QS World University Rankings 2019: KTU’s reputation among academic partners is growing

Important | 2019-06-19

The results of QS World University Rankings 2019 were announced today. Kaunas University of Technology (KTU) has kept a stable position and is among 800 best higher education institutions in the world.

Several thousands of universities from all over the world are applying to be ranked by QS World University Rankings, however, only a small part of them succeed. This year, 1001 universities were ranked; 4 of them – from Lithuania.

“To keep a stable position in the global rankings is always a good result. Especially, if we take into account the fact that more and more higher education institutions are being ranked every year, and in order to make it to the rankings they have to meet relatively high benchmark criteria. Naturally, we always want impressive jumps in the rankings, however, the efficiency is reflected in constant positive growth. The fact that KTU is gradually improving different criteria in the rankings shows our ability to focus and to prioritise our goals”, says Lolita Jurkšienė, Head of KTU Performance Management Department.

The results of QS World University Rankings reveal that KTU significantly improved its Academic Reputation criterion (+15.1%). This demonstrates the University’s successful partnerships with other higher education institutions while collaborating in study and research fields and developing strategic partnerships and joint projects.

Comparing with the last year, KTU improved its results in Citations per Faculty and Faculty Student ratio criteria. The increase in the Citations per Faculty metrics (+10.2%) shows that KTU is advancing in research-related activities, and is upgrading the quality of science production.

Also, the Rankings show constantly improving KTU’s image in the international arena. For several years now, the ratio of international students in comparison with locals is increasing. The evaluation of International Students criteria rose by 5.6% in 2019.

According to Employer Reputation criterion, KTU is among 501+ best universities in the world. The latter metric depends on the results of the survey organised by QS. It is important to keep in mind that the estimation of this criteria became more complicated due to the stricter regulations of data protection, which made a negative impact on the number of potential respondents. This lead to the fall in the rank not only for KTU but for many universities in the world.

In QS World University Rankings, the higher education institutions are ranked according to the following criteria: academic reputation (40 percent), employer reputation (10 percent), citations per faculty (20 percent), student to faculty ratio (20 percent), international faculty (5 percent), international students (5 percent).

QS World University Rankings is the largest independent global ranking of the universities, established in 2004. KTU has been participating in the Rankings since 2014.