| Rank | Institution | ARWU | QS | THE | USNWR | Average World Rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 🥇 | University of Tartu 🇪🇪 | 401 | 300 | 251 | 255 | 301.75 |
| 🥈 | Riga Stradins University 🇱🇻 | NR | 801 | 501 | NR | 651 |
| 🥉 | Vilnius University 🇱🇹 | 701 | 400 | 801 | 735 | 659.25 |
| UR | Estonian University of Life Sciences 🇪🇪 | NR | NR | 801 | NR | 801 |
| 4 | University of Latvia 🇱🇻 | NR | 1001 | 601 | 933 | 845 |
| 5 | Tallinn University of Technology 🇪🇪 | NR | 751 | 601 | 1230 | ~860.66 |
| 6 | Riga Technical University 🇱🇻 | NR | 751 | 1001 | NR | 876 |
| 7 | Tallinn University 🇪🇪 | NR | 1001 | 1001 | NR | 1001 |
| 8 | Vilnius Gediminas Technical University 🇱🇹 | 901 | 751 | 1001 | 1368 | 1005.25 |
| 9 | Lithuanian University of Health Sciences 🇱🇹 | NR | NR | 601 | 1514 | 1057.5 |
| UR | Latvia University of Life Sciences and Technologies 🇱🇻 | NR | NR | 1201 | NR | 1201 |
| UR | Vytautas Magnus University 🇱🇹 | NR | NR | 1201 | NR | 1201 |
| 10 | Kaunas University of Technology 🇱🇹 | NR | 801 | 1201 | 1678 | ~1226.66 |
This is a ranking of the top 10 Baltic universities ranked relative to each other for the year 2021-22.
Overview and methodology
The ranking was created by using metadata sourced from the four prominent rankings of world universities (each ranking released in 2021): Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU), Quacquarelli Symonds (QS), Times Higher Education (THE), and U.S. News & World Report (USNWR).
Rank was determined on each list for every Baltic university ranked on any list. Then for each university all its rank placements were averaged across lists to create the new list of average ranking for each university. The universities were then ranked according to their average ranking. The university with the highest average is thus ranked 1st, the one with the second highest average 2nd, and so on.
Finally, the results were tabled, and are shown above (Figure 1). The leftmost column shows rank based on average, the “institution” column shows the institution ranked, the next four rightward columns (ARWU, QS, THE, USNWR) show the rank for each given institution in each of those selected world rankings, and the rightmost column (“Average World”) averages the four ranking lists’ rank placement for each university.
Only universities which were ranked on at least two lists are counted. Universities which would have appeared had they been ranked by all the rankings are displayed in the ranking where they would have ranked if their average rank was the result of an average across all four rankings. Thus, Estonian University of Life Sciences, for example, is shown between the 3rd and 4th ranked universities, as it would have ranked 4th if it appeared on at least two rankings (and maintained its average from the ranking it did appear on). Rather than receiving a ranking placement, universities appearing in these positions are marked “UR” (unrankable) in the rank column, and “NR” (not ranked) in rankings lists in which they were not ranked.
In my opinion, global university rankings are not a measure of how “good” a university is. They are, centrally, a measure of university reputation among people in administrative positions in academics. How good a university is for you depends on what your goals are. It is almost entirely contextual. Thus, the rankings I do — which are based on average placements in world university rankings — ought to be seen not as a measure of how good a university is, but as a measure of the average opinion of an academic administrator you’ll get if you ask them to talk about a given university from a global perspective. In this spirit, I offer you a deflationary university ranking.
If anything appears to be in error, please email me at tuulifunctional@snmcgannon.com.
Permalink to this article: https://snmcgannon.com/2022/06/16/top-10-baltic-universities-2021/
S.N. McGannon 