USI ranked 54th in the Times Higher Education Young University Rankings
Institutional Communication Service
24 June 2020
Rankings time is here: just a few weeks after learning that USI was the highest new entrant in the QS World University Rankings 2021, the news is that in another renowned ranking (Times Higher Education Young University Rankings) our university lands 54th place worldwide among universities under 50 years old. An achievement, which puts USI in the top 13% of the 414 young universities ranked.
The ranking published today is a list of the world’s best universities that are 50 years old or younger. and is compiled from the same data as the global rankings published in September 2019. The table is based on the same performance indicators as the flagship Times Higher Education World University Rankings (also known as THE WUR) that measure an institution’s performance across teaching, research, knowledge transfer and international outlook. However, the weightings of the indicators have been adjusted to best reflect the profile and mission of young universities.
Why does Times Higher Education also publish rankings dedicated to universities founded less than 50 years ago? Promoters say that when evaluating a university it can be easy to focus on historical institutions that have existed for centuries and lead the international rankings. In the 'Young University Rankings', on the other hand, Times Higher Education highlights the best universities under the age of 50 by focusing on the research and teaching performance of those universities that due to their young age cannot yet have an established reputation such as - for example - Oxford, Cambridge, Harvard and Princeton.
"I find these results very compelling" - underlines USI Rector Boas Erez - "because this particular ranking focuses on young universities and in some ways corrects a distortion. It is in fact understandable that on some fronts younger universities cannot compete on the same level as those that have hundreds of years of history. Let's think about the concept of 'reputation', which is very prominent in the methodology of the flagship rankings, and that is assesed among students, among their peers, in scientific research. I believe that reputation is something that is built progressively overtime. Over the course of decades - even centuries for the oldest universities - universities build bonds of trust with their communities of reference, which become stronger from generation to generation. USI is on the right track, despite what (for a university) is considered a young age: just think that we will remain in this ranking "for young institutions" for another 25 years".
