On 29 June, ShanghaiRanking released its 2020 Global Ranking of Academic Subjects (GRAS), and the University of Szeged, Budapest University of Technology and Economics, Corvinus University of Budapest, Semmelweis University, Szent István University, the University of Debrecen, the University of Pécs, and Eötvös Loránd University (ELTE) have been ranked among the world’s best institutions. According to the evaluation, ELTE became the best Hungarian university in five subjects.
The Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU) was first published in 2003, and it ranks more than 1,800 universities every year. ARWU uses six objective indicators to rank world universities, including the number of alumni and staff winning Nobel Prizes and Fields Medals, the number of highly cited researchers, and the number of articles published in journals of Nature and Science.
This year, universities were evaluated according to 54 subjects across Natural Sciences, Engineering, Life Sciences, Medical Sciences, and Social Sciences. The survey took into consideration the number of papers authored by an institution in each field, the ratio of the citations of papers published by an institution, the number of publications that have been found with at least two different countries in addresses of the authors divided by the total number of publications, the number of papers published in top journals, and the total number of the staff of an institution winning a significant award in an academic subject since 1981.
During the last two months, ELTE has achieved impressive results on three global rankings, Lénárd Darázs, the vice-rector for general affairs, told Infostart. SanghaiRanking and its content have been widely cited and employed as a starting point for identifying national strengths and weaknesses. In 2020, the organisation evaluated 4,000 universities from 90 countries, so the fact that six Hungarian universities were included in this prestigious academic ranking is a great achievement in itself.
ELTE secured its position among the world’s best universities in five scientific fields: Biology, Ecology, Mathematics, Physics, and Psychology.
In the subject of biological sciences, ELTE ranked 301−400th, which is an impressive result considering the fact that the university has not been included on this list before. The institution placed 151−200th in the field of Physics, 301−400th in Ecology and Psychology, and 401−500th in Mathematics. The University of Debrecen and Szeged have been included on the Global Ranking of Academic Subjects in Physics for years. In 2020, the former took 301−400th place and the latter ranked 401−500th.
Budapest University of Technology and Economics, Semmelweis University and Szent István University achieved the best overall rankings in the country: they are among the world’s best 201−300 universities in the subjects of Mechanical Engineering, Clinical Medicine and Veterinary Sciences.
The top list features two other Hungarian universities − the University of Szeged and the University of Pécs – in the subject of Clinical Medicine. Both of them are among the best 401−500 institutions. The University of Pécs and Semmelweis University also secured a good place in the public health ranking. Corvinus University was included in the ranking of two subjects: Political sciences (301−400th) and Economics (401−500th).