USI ranks 44th in the Times Higher Education Young University Rankings
Institutional Communication Service
17 May 2024
The ranking season begins: the renowned Times Higher Education Young University Rankings released today sees Università della Svizzera italiana 44th in the world among universities that are less than 50 years old. "A very good placement for a University that is only 28 years old' - stresses Rector Luisa Lambertini - "and which places USI in the top 6.5% of the 673 young universities ranked".
The rankings released today are specific to young universities which are less than 50 years old. The methodology used is similar to that of world universities (Times Higher Education World University Rankings, also known as THE WUR) to assess research-intensive universities in all their primary missions: teaching, research, knowledge transfer, and international outlook. However, the weighting of the various indicators is recalibrated best to reflect the profile and mission of young universities.
It is worth mentioning that Times Higher Education publishes a ranking dedicated to universities founded less than 50 years ago. This is because general rankings tend to favour institutions that have been around for centuries, with established reputations and visibility. In the "Young University Rankings," Times Higher Education focuses on research and teaching performance to highlight the best universities under 50 years of age. USI entered this ranking in 2020 in 54th position (top 13.2% of 414 young universities qualified), then moved up to 37th place in 2021 (top 7.8% of 475 young universities). In 2022 USI ranked 57th (top 10.5% of 540 young universities), and in 2023, 32nd (top 5.3% of 605 young universities). These variations depend on the number of universities entering or leaving the ranking from year to year because they meet the inclusion criteria (e.g. being less than 50 years old) and on the introduction of significant updates in the methodology. For example, from 2023 to 2024, there was a shift to a new calculation methodology using 18 performance indicators instead of the previous 13. Additionally, the number of Asian universities in the ranking has almost doubled over the past five years, from 165 in the 2020 edition (40% of the universities in the ranking) to 327 this year (49%).
Although Università della Svizzera italiana has achieved significant positions in recent years, especially considering its age and size, it's important to view the results of these rankings with caution as they only represent one factor in assessing the quality of a university. There are significant differences between rankings. For example, Times Higher Education uses a weighting of 38.5% for Scopus data (citations 30%, productivity 6% and international cooperation 2.5%), 33% for reputation and 28.5% for self-reported data (number of employees, students, PhDs awarded, university income). QS World University Rankings, another well-known ranking, uses 50% weighting for reputation and only 20% for Scopus data (citations), while the remaining 30% is based on self-reported data (number of employees and students) and internationalisation.
