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Rankings
Aalto University performs well in international university rankings. In subject-specific rankings, we place 8th globally in art & design and are in the top 100 in several other subjects.
We have gathered information on our performance in the best-known university rankings on this page.
We have gathered information on our performance in the best-known university rankings on this page.
A university of high international standing
Aalto University shapes a sustainable future. We are a highly international community with a strong academic standing. We place 53rd in the Times Higher Education (THE) ranking list of most international universities in the world.
The university has improved markedly in rankings specific to our fields: technology, business, and art & design. Our best ranking result is in the field of art & design, where we rank 8th globally according to QS.
Depending on how the figure is calculated, there are 17 000–22 000 universities in the world, of which approximately 1 000 are in Europe, around 70 in the Nordic countries, and 14 in Finland.
Different ranking lists use different indicators to compare universities. Most rankings evaluate research publications - their quantity and, for example, how many times they are cited. The criteria may also include external funding, an international dimension, or the university's reputation among researchers and employers. Usually, the overall score of a university is determined by combining its score on different indicators.
General rankings are comparisons which take a holistic view to evaluating universities. Aalto University has scored well in a general comparison focusing on universities less than 50 years old and listings measuring e.g. internationalisation or corporate collaboration.
Subject-specific rankings relevant ºÚÁÏÍø
Some rankings are specific to a single subject or field, and these are more relevant to a university such as Aalto University which specialises in three fields. Different disciplines have different publishing practices, and comparisons which focus on a specific field enable universities to be assessed on equal terms.
Organisations that produce rankings also create special lists which take into account only one indicator or criterion, such as an international dimension, business cooperation or external financing.
Ranking news
Aalto University again ranked Finland’s top university in the QS World University Rankings
Aalto placed 114th globally
Aalto University ranks 51st globally for international outlook
Aalto University climbed higher in the prestigious Times Higher Education ranking of the most international universities
Aalto University’s art & design ranked 8th in the world
Six of Aalto’s fields placed in the top 100 in the prestigious QS ranking
Business & economics and computer science ranked in top 100 globally
The Times Higher Education ranking measures universities with 18 indicators, including international research and citations .More information about the selected rankings:
Shanghai Ranking has published its ARWU ranking (Academic Ranking of World Universities) since 2003, which makes ARWU the oldest of the large, international university rankings. The university-level ARWU ranking emphasises large, time-honoured universities that are active in traditional natural, life and medical sciences. Accordingly, the overall ARWU ranking is not very relevant for more specialised universities such as the Aalto University. In 2017, Shanghai Ranking launched 52 new subject rankings based on bibliometric indicators and international scientific awards. These subject rankings function well as tools for international benchmarking.
EngiRank, launched in 2023, is a new university ranking that seeks to evaluate engineering and technology programmes in the 27 European Union countries. In addition to bibliometric indicators, the ranking utilises indicators unique to the European Research Area (ERA) and the European Higher Education Area (EHEA), such as participation in the Erasmus+ and Horizon programmes as well as in the European University Alliances. EngiRank publishes an institutional ranking and subject-based rankings within the general field of technology and engineering.
THE World University Rankings is based on 13 indicators. Reputation surveys have a considerable weight in the ranking, as do bibliometric analysis. THE is a widely respected ranking agent that widens its ranking portfolio continuously.
The reputation survey is the most essential factor in the QS rankings. It has the weight of 50% in the general rankings, and in certain fields of arts and humanities (such as Art & Design, which is important ºÚÁÏÍø), the entire ranking is solely based on the reputation survey. QS applies a number of indicators in its general rankings (and to a varying extent in field-specific rankings). In its publication and citation analysis based on the Scopus database of Elseview, QS does not take into account the differences between individual scientific fields regarding publication practices, but instead normalises its assessment to five main fields of science. Before 2015, QS did not take into account any differences in the publication and citation practices of different academic fields.
The NTU Ranking is based on the analysis of publication and citation data included in the Clarivate Analytics Web of Science database, which emphasises volume in addition to influence. NTU's analyses are in part normalised by academic fields, but by emphasising volume alongside research impact, the general rankings of NTU also highlight fields in which large publication and citation volumes are typical (particularly natural sciences and biomedicine). In field-specific rankings, the assessment is limited to selected fields.
Leiden Ranking does not as such produce one ranking; instead, it uses the Web of Science database of Thomson Reuters as a basis for calculating different, considerably advanced bibliometric indicators for the universities of the world, which can be used to put the universities in a ranking order if so desired. However, the indicators are presumably more suitable for analysing and comparing the publication profiles and impacts of universities with the help of a tool pack with comparable metrics.
The Financial Times publishes internationally respected comparisons in the field of businessa and economics. One key element is the surveys sent to universities and their alumni on issues such as career and salary development. Research publications and indicators of teaching staff also contribute to the results.
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