

Rankings are one way of assessing and ranking universities. The benchmarks primarily measure research performance, as high standards of research are valued. Universities are often compared in terms of peer review and the number of citations in scientific publications. Various rankings also measure reputation, scientific and teaching excellence, the number of degrees, internationality and Nobel laureates. All rankings use different data and calculation models. There are both university rankings and discipline-specific rankings.
The ranking results provide important information for the university on its strengths. In particular, the strengths of the University of Vaasa include the number of scientific publications, the number of citations to scientific articles (meaning the impact of publications) and international co-publications.
Below you can find more information on the rankings in which the University of Vaasa has been placed.
One of the best-known rankings is THE (Times Higher Education) ranking, published by the commercial Times Higher Education magazine. The ranking compares universities on the basis of teaching, research, research references, internationalisation and funding. Teaching and research are assessed through numerical scores and surveys. The rankings are based on a total of 13 indicators. The current version of the ranking has been published since 2010.
Indicators and weights of the benchmark:
The University of Vaasa is ranked among the top 400 out of 1,799 universities evaluated in the THE 2023 ranking. Ten Finnish universities were included in the ranking. In the national comparison, the University of Vaasa was ranked 6th. The University of Vaasa is the highest-ranked Finnish university in terms of citations and second best across all international outlook indicators.
Times Higher Education World University Rankings by subject are a set of subject-specific ranking tables where the evaluation methodology has been calibrated to suit each individual subject.
The ranking tables are compiled based on 13 indicators that are calibrated for each subject. The THE subject ranking evaluates universities in five areas:
The THE business and economics subject ranking assesses universities by their performance in the following disciplines:
The University of Vaasa was ranked third best out of nine Finnish universities and among the top 10 universities in the Nordic countries for business and economics in THE 2023 ranking by subject.
Also in engineering the University of Vaasa was ranked third best out of six Finnish universities and 11th among the Nordic universities in THE 2023 ranking by subject.
The University of Vaasa is ranked 70th among the 790 young universities evaluated, and 7th among Nordic universities.
The 2022 THE Young Universities Rankings list the world’s best universities that are 50 years old or younger. It applies the same methodology as the World University Rankings, with recalibrated weightings to reflect the profiles of young universities.
The ranking evaluates universities in five areas: research, references, teaching, internationalisation, and corporate financing. The rankings are compiled on the basis of a total of 13 indicators.
The Shanghai Global Ranking of Academic Subjects (GRAS) is a discipline-specific global ranking published by Shanghai Jiao Tong University. The university also publishes the Shanghai Ranking (ARWU), one of the oldest and best-known university rankings. The GRAS ranking has been published since 2017. It includes rankings in 54 different disciplines in natural sciences, engineering, life sciences, medicine and social sciences.
GRAS ranking indicators:
The University of Vaasa was ranked in the Shanghai Global Ranking of Academic Subjects (GRAS) 2022 as follows: business administration 151–200 and management 401–500. See the results on the Shanghai ranking website.
Accreditations are quality labels that universities can apply for at the international level for their teaching. The University of Vaasa uses accreditations as a means of improving the quality of its activities. The aim is to obtain an international quality label for all the university's degree programmes in the future.
EFMD is a quality label for business and management education programmes with an international focus.
University of Vaasa EFMD-accredited master's programmes in business studies:
The AACSB accreditation process in the field of business studies at the University of Vaasa started in autumn 2017 and will end in 2024. The University is currently in the implementation phase of the development actions identified in the self-assessment.
International accreditation by the German organisation ASIIN is mainly for degree programmes in technology and science.
ASIIN-accredited bachelor's and master's programmes at the University of Vaasa:
The University of Vaasa regularly evaluates its research activities through external peer review. The evaluation is based on background material and visits and is carried out by independent international scientific experts. The aim of the evaluation is to examine the university's research activities and the quality of research in relation to international research and to improve research activities.
The research evaluations were carried out in 2022, 2015 and 2010. The first evaluation covered the period years 2005–2009 and looked at the quality of the university's research, doctoral training, organisation and societal impact. The second evaluation, carried out in 2015, focused in particular on research teams. The evaluation found that the university has a very strong social impact and cooperation with regional businesses.
The latest research assessment exercise (RAE Univaasa 2022) focused on research groups but also on schools and platforms as well as the university as a whole. The evaluation covered the years 2015–2020. It was carried out as a multilevel and multidimensional evaluation targeting research environment, research cooperation and funding, publications, and scientific activities including societal impact.
The evaluation indicated that several research groups are currently at a high international level. The research areas represented are ones where excellent researchers have many possibilities. The societal impact of research and the cooperation with regional businesses especially via joint research projects are still very strong. The international experts also gave several recommendations on how to improve the quality of research at the University of Vaasa.