Research and teaching lift KTH in THE world ranking
KTH Royal Institute of Technology landed in its highest ranking position since 2016 in the newly-released 2023 Times Higher Education (THE) World University Rankings, an achievement the university’s president credits to research, teaching and stronger focus on citations and communicating impact.
At 155th place for the first time in six years, KTH has climbed up from its previous year’s THE ranking among the top 201-250. “It shows KTH is a successful international university that is attractive for students and researchers,” says KTH President Sigbritt Karlsson.
The ranking places KTH 42nd among universities in the European Union and fourth among universities in Sweden.
The THE World University Rankings evaluates more than 1,600 universities annually, publishing scores in each institution’s performance across four areas: teaching, research, knowledge transfer and international outlook. The performance scores comprise an overall ranking.
In the areas of research and teaching, which account for 90 percent of the overall ranking, KTH’s 2023 scores have increased over the previous year—most notably in the performance area of citation and impact.
“The big change is the focus on discussing matters that are important, such as citing, impact and global collaborations,” Karlsson says.
“The researchers are more aware of these systemics in ranking and I’m happy to see it has paid off.”
Reputation for both teachers and researchers are also of particular importance in this index—they account for the highest percentage of the research and teaching performance scores.
“KTH has really good researchers, and a systematic approach towards recruitment of researchers.” This includes new national and international researchers, she says. “And, KTH attracts some of the best international students.”
Nevertheless, the president says THE’s scores don’t tell the full story. “I would say that the results are probably not accurately reflecting our excellence in some areas,” she says.
One area is likely internationalization, where KTH’s scores have dropped since 2022’s ranking, she says. Karlsson says the score may underrepresent the international background of both faculty and students.
She says that to gain more in the THE ranking, KTH needs to continue the work on systemics and “continuously talk about strategy for publication and impact.”
“Global relations, including new university partners, are part of the success and they need to be in focus.”
David Callahan