Ranking of Nordic Universities, 2022

Ranking of Nordic Universities 2022

Rank	Institution	Change from 2021	ARWU	QS	THE	USNWR	Average World Rank
UR	Karolinska Institute 🇸🇪	NA	41	NR	49	51	47
🥇	University of Copenhagen 🇩🇰	–	39	82	114	42	69.25
🥈	University of Oslo 🇳🇴	–	67	101	126	89	95.75
🥉	University of Helsinki 🇫🇮	–	92	106	110	99	101.75
4	Aarhus University 🇩🇰	–	69	161	117	109	114
5	Lund University 🇸🇪	+1	151	95	119	112	119.25
6	Uppsala University 🇸🇪	-1	89	128	148	127	123
7	Stockholm University 🇸🇪	–	90	153	176	127	136.5
8	Technical University of Denmark 🇩🇰	–	151	104	166	165	146.5
9	University of Gothenburg 🇸🇪	–	101	185	201	146	158.25
10	KTH Royal Institute of Technology 🇸🇪	–	201	89	155	240	171.25
11	Aalto University 🇫🇮	+1	301	116	201	273	222.75
12	University of Bergen 🇳🇴	-1	301	207	201	199	227
13	University of Southern Denmark 🇩🇰	+2	201	347	251	261	265
14	Chalmers University of Technology 🇸🇪	–	401	125	251	337	278.5
15	Norwegian University of Science and Technology 🇳🇴	+1	101	352	401	267	280.25
16	Aalborg University 🇩🇰	-3	301	330	251	267	287.25
17	Linköping University 🇸🇪	–	301	320	251	330	300.5
UR	Reykjavík University 🇮🇸	NA	NR	NR	301	NR	301
UR	Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences 🇸🇪	NA	301	NR	351	356	336
18	University of Turku 🇫🇮	–	401	291	351	342	346.25
19	Tampere University 🇫🇮	Re-entry	401	415	301	400	379.25
20	Umeå University 🇸🇪	–	401	369	401	366	384.25

Table 1. Ranking of Nordic Universities 2022-2023

This is a ranking of the top 20 Nordic universities of 2022.

Overview

The ranking was created by using metadata sourced from the four prominent rankings of world universities (each ranking released in 2022): 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 Nordic university ranked on each list. If a ranking used a range, the highest possible rank was chosen (e.g., if a university was ranked within a 201-250 bracket, 201 was chosen). 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 (Table 1). The leftmost column shows rank based on average, the “institution” column shows the institution ranked, the “Change from 2021” column shows the change in ranking placement from last year’s ranking (Ranking of Nordic Universities, 2021), 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 all four 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, for example, Karolinska Institute is shown above the #1 ranked University of Copenhagen, as it would have ranked #1 if it appeared on all four rankings (and maintained its average from the rankings 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.

Observations

• On average, Nordic universities placing in the top 20 Nordic universities have declined in global rankings in 2022. The 2021 ranking gave a summed average of approx. 4090, whereas this year the summed average is approx. 4207 — an approx. 117 place movement downwards.
• The top 10 Nordic universities remain the same in 2022 as in 2021. The only change is the swap between Lund University 🇸🇪 (now 5th, was 6th) and Uppsala University 🇸🇪 (now 6th, was 5th).
• The Nordic universities to have moved upward on average in global rankings from 2021 to 2022 are as follows: Technical University of Denmark 🇩🇰 (from 149 to 146.5), KTH Royal Institute of Technology 🇸🇪 (from 175.75 to 171.25), University of Southern Denmark 🇩🇰 (from 279 to 265), Norwegian University of Science and Technology 🇳🇴 (from 284.25 to 280.25), Linköping University 🇸🇪 (from 307.75 to 300.5), and Tampere University 🇫🇮 (from 380 to 379.25). Most upward movement is, however, unsubstantial: only University of Southern Denmark 🇩🇰 moved up more than 10 places (14 — almost twice as many as the next greatest upward-mover, Linköping University 🇸🇪).
• University of Oulu 🇫🇮 has dropped out of the top 20 Nordic universities.
• Tampere University 🇫🇮 re-enters the top 20 Nordic universities (at 19th). It had previously ranked 20th in the 2020 ranking.

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.

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