TEHRAN – Iranian universities have advanced in 17 subject areas of 2021 QS rankings, Mohammad-Javad Dehghani, head of Islamic World Science Citation Database, has announced.

The QS World University Rankings by Subject highlights the world’s top universities in a range of popular subject areas, covering 51 subjects. Published annually since 2011, the rankings are based on academic reputation, employer reputation, faculty/student ratio, citations per faculty, international faculty, and international students.

QS World University Rankings, an annual league table of the top 600 universities in the world, is arguably the best-known and respected rankings of its kind. Compiled by QS in close consultation with an international advisory board of leading academics, the rankings are widely referenced by prospective and current students, university professionals, and governments around the world.

In the general field of engineering and technology, as of 2020 ranking, three universities, including Sharif University of Technology, University of Tehran, and Amirkabir University of Technology, were listed among top institutions worldwide, two of which had a growth rate compared to last year, he stated.

In particular, Sharif University of Technology has been promoted from 221 to 178 and AmirKabir University of Technology from 361 to 345, Dehghani noted, adding, also in this ranking, the University of Science and Technology was ranked 451-500.

In the general field of medicine and life sciences, like last year, only Tehran University of Medical Sciences is listed among world-class universities, and in the general field of natural sciences, like last year, University of Tehran, and Sharif University of Technology are the only Iranian representatives in the ranking, he also explained.

In 2021, Iranian universities were ranked in 17 subject areas. Meanwhile, in 2016, Tehran University of Medical Sciences was the only university from Iran that was listed in the field of medicine, he stated.

The presence of Iranian universities in 2017 ranking was upgraded from one to eight subject fields, and promoted to 13 subject fields in 2020, Dehghani highlighted.

Iranian universities shine at world rankings

Times Higher Education has published its annual ranking of the world’s top universities for 2021, listing 47 Iranian universities, which shows an increase of 7 universities compared to the last year.

With 47 Iranian universities ranked among 1,527 top universities of 93 countries in the world in 2021 rankings, Iran achieved a great improvement in the academic field.

Some 21 Islamic countries were also listed in the ranking, however, Iran holds the highest share with 47 universities.

With a scientific growth rate of 10.4 percent in 2019, Iran ranked second among the top 25 countries in the world, next to China with a growth rate of 12.9 percent, according to the Web of Science website.

According to statistics released by the International Web of Science Database, Iran's citation rank has always been on the rise over the last eight years, from 24 in 2012 to 16 in 2019.

Iran ranks first in terms of the number of universities in the region and among Islamic countries, according to Shanghai Ranking’s Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU) 2020.

Two Iranian universities have been ranked among the top 100 universities in Asia, according to Webometrics Ranking of World Universities for July 2020.

Moreover, 7 Iranian universities have been listed among the best 1000 worldwide; including, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Sharif University of Technology, Tarbiat Modares University, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Isfahan University of Technology, Iran University of Science and Technology.

In June 2020, THE Asia University Rankings 2020 ranked five Iranian universities among the top 100 universities worldwide.

The Center for Science and Technology Studies Leiden Ranking has placed 36 Iranian universities in the list of over 1,000 major universities worldwide in 2020 compared with 26 universities in 2019.

Also, five Iranian universities have been placed among the world’s top 1,000 universities announced by the prestigious Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) World University Rankings 2021.

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