Fewer Romanian universities included in QS world rankings

Only two Romanian universities have been included in the QS World University Rankings 2020, down from five last year, Edupedu.ro reported.

They are the Babeș-Bolyai University in Cluj-Napoca and the University of Bucharest, both included in the 801 - 1000 band. Last year, the Alexandru Ioan Cuza University in Iași, the Polytechnic University of Bucharest, and the Vest University in Timișoara also featured in the ranking.

Daniel David, the deputy rector of the Babeș-Bolyai University, told Edupedu.ro that all five universities were evaluated this year, but only two were included in the ranking.

“It should be a warning for the Government and the Education Ministry, which should understand that if large local universities are not supported with adequate funding to help them in the international competition with other world-class universities, Romania will shortly fail to have any universities in the international rankings and this will have negative consequences on the country’s competitiveness,” David said.

The universities included in the ranking are evaluated according to six metrics: academic reputation; employer reputation; faculty/student ratio; citations per faculty; international faculty ratio; and international student ratio.

US universities dominated the top five, with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) ranked first, similar to last year. Stanford University ranks second, followed by Harvard University, UK’s University of Oxford, up one spot from last year, and California Institute of Technology (Caltech), down one position from last year.

The ranking can be checked here.

(Photo: Universitatea Bucuresti Facebook Page)