"This is proof that our research is of high quality, even though we still face challenges in terms of our international brand," says analyst Magnus MacHale-Gunnarsson.
The three current rankings are Best Global Universities from U.S. News & World Report, QS World University Rankings and Academic Ranking of World Universities (Shanghai).
In two of them, the University of Gothenburg is listed among the top 200 in the world.
GU is particularly stable in the U.S. News ranking, which is based primarily on research data. There, the university is ranked 164th in the world. At the same time, GU is among the world's best in several subjects, including neuroscience, endocrinology and marine sciences.
University's reputation
However, in the parts of the rankings based on the institution's reputation – i.e. researchers' perceptions of the university's reputation – GU lags behind other top Swedish universities such as KI, Lund and Stockholm.
"That's not surprising. Reputation surveys reflect a brand rather than in-depth knowledge of the organisation. Perhaps we could strengthen this through more active marketing efforts," says MacHale-Gunnarsson.
The Shanghai ranking, in turn, focuses on research volume, Nobel Prizes and the number of highly cited researchers. GU ranks 151st, which is three places lower than last year.
Strong in sustainability
In the QS ranking, GU has dropped places and is now ranked 202. At the same time, the university is advancing strongly in QS's sustainability ranking, where GU is ranked 36th in the world.
"It is unfortunate that we are outside the top 200, as this reduces our visibility and is likely to have a negative impact on the recruitment of international students."
Although the methods differ, all three rankings show the same thing: the University of Gothenburg is a research university of high international standing. At the same time, Magnus MacHale-Gunnarsson sees a need to take a sensible approach to the attention given to rankings.
"Rankings are not a good way to measure quality, but they affect both our reputation and our ability to recruit international students.”
Allan Eriksson