TEHRAN — Nine Iranian universities once again succeeded in securing positions in world top university rankings in the Times Higher Education Young University Rankings 2018 and Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) World University Rankings 2019.

1,000 of the world’s top universities are ranked using six different indicators to compile QS World University Rankings 2019. Universities are evaluated according to the following six metrics: academic reputation, employer reputation, faculty/student ratio, citations per faculty, international faculty ration and international student ration. 

As per the data published on QS World University Rankings official website, Sharif University of Technology, ranked 432, Amirkabir University of Technology, ranked 498, Iran University of Science and Technology, ranked between 601 to 651, University of Tehran, ranked between 701 to 750, Shahid Beheshti University, ranked between 800 to 1000, and Shiraz University, ranked between 800 to 1000, are the top 6 Iranian universities among world-class universities. 

Compared to the QS World University Rankings 2018 data, ranking 959 top universities, this is the first year for the Shiraz University to be among the world-leading universities. 

Moreover in 2017 ranking, Sharif University of Technology, ranked between 471 and 480, and University of Tehran, ranked between 601 to 650, were the only Iranian representatives among 600 world-class universities.

Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) tops the list for a record seventh consecutive year in QS ranking. MIT is one of five American institutions in this year’s top 10. Stanford University, Harvard University, California Institute of Technology, University of Oxford, University of Cambridge, Swiss Federal University of Technology, Imperial College London, University of Chicago and University College London (UCL) are among the world top 10 universities. 

Moreover, the Times Higher Education Young University Rankings website has listed the world’s best universities that are aged 50 years or under. The 2018 ranking includes 250 universities, up from 200 in 2017. Three Iranian universities are also included in the recent Times Higher Education Young University Rankings.

Teaching (the learning environment), research (volume, income and reputation), citations (research influence), international outlook (staff, students and research), and industry income (knowledge transfer) are the performance indicators to provide the most comprehensive and balanced comparisons between the universities. 

Babol Noshirvani University of Technology, ranked 55, Isfahan University of Technology, ranked between 101 and 150, and University of Gilan ranked between 201 and 250, are among the young top universities worldwide.

Isfahan University of Technology, ranked between 101 to 150, and Yazd University, ranked between 151and 200, were the two Iranian higher education institutes in Young University Rankings 2017. 

Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Switzerland, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, Paris Sciences & Lettres – PSL University, Maastricht University, the Netherlands, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST),  City University of Hong Kong, Pohang University of Science and Technology, South Korea, Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna, Italy, and University of Alabama at Birmingham, the U.S, are the top 10 young universities in the world. 

MQ/MG