The University of Helsinki improved its ranking and secured 94th place in the list of the best universities in the world this year, according to the Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU), known as Shanghai Ranking published on Friday.
The ranking has moved upwards for second consecutive year, which was 99th in the last year after falling drastically in the previous six years.
The university was in the list of 101-150 best universities in the 2023 ranking, which was 92nd in 2022, 82nd in 2021, 74th in 2020, 63rd in 2019, 57th in 2018 and 56th in 2017 and 2016.
The University of Helsinki, however, was ranked as the best university in Finland like the past, followed by the Aalto University, University of Oulu and University of Turku, ranked in the bracket of 401 to 500, Tampere University ranked in the bracket of 501 to 600 and University of Eastern Finland in the bracket of 601-700.
Harvard University ranked top on the list for the 23rd consecutive year, followed by Stanford University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), University of Cambridge University of California, Berkeley, University of Oxford, University of Princeton, University of Columbia, , California Institute of Technology and University of Chicago.
“We are happy that the course has been corrected after years of decline following the major cuts to university funding in the 2010s. We have managed to cultivate our own top-level researchers as well as attract them from both Finland and abroad, and this shows particularly in the increase in the number of top-level publications. Now that we have managed to get the trend back on the right track, it must not be jeopardised by further cuts,” said Vice-Rector of the University of Helsinki Anne Portaankorva.
Portaankorva also said that in proportion to student numbers, Finnish universities receive 20–35% less funding than universities in Sweden, Denmark and Norway.
“The cuts of hundreds of millions of euros to universities and research proposed by the Ministry of Finance would significantly undermine our chances of continuing to have a Finnish university among the top 100 globally. In these circumstances, further cuts in research and education would be extremely short-sighted,” Portaankorva added.
Since 2003, ARWU has been presenting the world's top universities annually based on transparent methodology and objective third-party data.
It has been recognized as the precursor of global university rankings and the most trustworthy one. This year, more than 2500 institutions were scrutinized, and the best 1000 universities in the world are published.
Source: www.dailyfinland.fi
