The University of Iceland has been placed 501-600 in the new 2021 list of the best universities in the world from the ShanghaiRanking Consultancy; holding its own in the competitive global scientific community. This is the fifth year in a row that the University makes this prestigious and sought after list and remains the only Icelandic university on the list.
The Shanghai Ranking is among the best known of all university rankings worldwide, but it is formally entitled the Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU). The Shanghai Ranking is one of two highly prestigious and influential rankings of the world's best academic institutions, the other being the Times Higher Education World University Rankings. The University of Iceland has been ranked on the latter for a decade.
Shanghai Ranking has been published for almost two decades and is based on the evaluation and comparison of over 2,000 universities all over the world. The assessment is based on objective indicators, including the number of papers published in renowned scientific journals, the number of citations to the works of University faculty, the university's performance based on the number of staff as well as the number of faculty receiving scientific awards for their contributions to individual fields of study.
Like last year the University of Iceland placed 500-600 on the new list of the 1,000 best universities in the world. It is by no means evident that universities hold their place on the list as there are more and more universities that focus on high quality research and scientific work, so the international competition becomes fiercer every year.
“The competition among universities to make the Shanghai list is fierce. It is outstanding that the University maintains its position on the list, but it is clear that we must continue to focus our efforts and invest in higher education in Iceland,” says Jón Atli Benediktsson, rector of the University of Iceland. “Knowledge is the currency of the future, and we must advance with determination. If we stay still we will lose our position, as others continue to increase their efforts.”
Earlier this summer, the ShanghaiRanking Consultancy published lists of the best universities in the world in specific subjects and the University of Iceland was ranked on 14 of them. The lists reveal that the University holds its place among the very best in remote sensing in the world and is among the top 45 in the field of electrical and computer engineering, and was ranked in 51-75 in nursing.