The University of Bucharest is the best ranked Romanian university in a recent QS World University Rankings which brings together 800 universities in the world. The Bucharest University however is in the 651-700 category, towards the bottom of the ranking. But it has managed to gain 50 places from last year’s ranking.

Three other universities in Romania appear in the ranking, all three of them in the 701+ category, which is the last in the top. These are the Babes Bolyai University in Cluj – Napoca, the Alexandru Ioan Cuza University in Iasi, and the West University in Timisoara. Last year, the University of Bucharest was also in the 701+ category of the same ranking. This year, the University ranks 386th for Natural Sciences and 395th for Arts and Humanities.

For comparison, neighboring Bulgaria has only one University in the ranking, the University of St. Kliment Ohridski, placed in the 651-700 category. There are four Hungarian universities in the ranking, three of them better ranked than Romania’s universities: University of Szeged – 551-600, Eotvos Lorand University – 601 – 650, and University of Debrecen – 601-650. Ukraine has 6 universities in the ranking, the best of which is Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv – ranked in the 421-530 band. Poland also has 6 university in the ranking. The best ranked of them is the University of Warsaw, at number 335, and second best is the Jagiellonian University, at number 371. The Warsaw University of Technology falls in the 651-700 category, while three other universities rank similar to Romania’s other three, in the 701+ category.

First spot this year is again occupied by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), which is the number one university in the world for the third year in a row.

Quacquarelli Symonds World University Rankings is put together every year by the QS Intelligence Unit and a group of worldwide renowned professors and researchers. They take into account several key indicators, such as scientific research, quality of teaching, employment potential for alumni, among others.  Several techniques are used for evaluation: Academic Peer Review, Employer Review, Citations per Faculty Member, Student per Faculty Ratio and International Factors.

The full rankings for 2014/2015  are here.

editor@romania-insider.com