Three Turkish universities have been placed among the world’s best universities, according to a compilation of 11 ranking systems from around the world assessing higher education. Middle East Technical University (METU), Hacettepe and Koç universities have become the country’s most successful universities.
The universities were included in three of the “World’s Top 500 Universities” rankings made by 11 ranking institutions, said a report by the University Ranking by Academic Performance Research Laboratory (URAP) of METU.
METU URAP published the results of the rankings for 203 universities in Turkey. The universities were evaluated by 11 ranking institutions, including METU URAP, Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU), Center for World University Rankings (CWUR), Centre for Science and Technology Studies Leiden (LEIDEN), National Taiwan University (NTU), Quacquarelli Symonds World University Rankings (QS), Round University Ranking (RUR), Scimago Institutions Rankings (SCIMAGO), Times Higher Education World University Rankings (THE), US News & World Report (US News) and Ranking of World Universities (WEBOMETRICS).
In the report, the world rankings of 11 research universities and five research university candidates during the period of 2013 to 2020 were assessed for the first time. Nine Turkish universities were among the “World’s Top 500 Universities” in 2020, the report showed. METU, Hacettepe, and Koç universities were the top three of the nine universities. Hacettepe University was listed as the 378th by RUR, 455th on LEIDEN, and 500th on URAP, while METU ranked 416th on WEBOMETRICS, 454th on RUR, and 453rd on US News. Koç University took the 450th spot on THE, 448th on RUR and 465th on QS.
“It is a considerable success for our country as these nine universities made it to the top 500 on at least one ranking list in 2020,” said the report. While 10 Turkish universities were in the top 500 worldwide in 2011, last year the number dropped to eight. This year, it has climbed back to nine.
URAP Coordinator Ural Akbulut stressed that Turkish universities put in great effort to reach higher standings in world rankings. “It is observed that the number of published works and citations of our universities generally increases every year, at least a little. But the rate of increase in these numbers remains below the world average,” he said. Akbulut stated that Chinese universities managed to take their places among the world’s best through patience and years of consistent work, and said, “Our research universities can attain success by raising their numbers of published works patiently, without becoming demotivated, by founding new labs and adding skillful researchers from abroad to their faculty staff.”
