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ranking

Rankings, accreditations and evaluations

To reach our goals and continuously improve our university, we regularly evaluate the quality and effectiveness of education, research and societal impact as well as the university services through external and internal evaluations.

Rankings

Times Higher Education (THE) World University Ranking 2024
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401-500
The Shanghai Global Ranking of Academic Subjects (GRAS) 2023: Business Administration
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18
Times Higher Education (THE) World University Rankings by Subject 2023: Economics
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251-300

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.

The THE (Times Higher Education) World University Ranking evaluates universities in five areas: teaching, research environment, research quality, international outlook and industry. 

The University of Vaasa was ranked in the 401-500 bracket worldwide in the 2024 edition of the ranking where 1,904 universities were evaluated. The University of Vaasa performed especially well in research quality, research environment and international outlook. 

The ranking included 10 Finnish universities. In terms of the overall national rank, the University of Vaasa was ranked 7th, and 3rd in research quality and international outlook. 

Read news about the ranking result. 

The University of Vaasa is ranked in the Times Higher Education (THE) World University Rankings by Subject at 251-300 in the subject of business and economics. We are also ranked in engineering (301-400) and social sciences (501-600).

The University of Vaasa received a high score in terms of research quality and international outlook. In business and economics, we were second best in Finland for research quality and third best in Finland for international outlook. In engineering, we were the best in Finland for research quality.

The THE World University Rankings by subject ranking uses the same trusted and rigorous performance indicators as the Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2024, but the methodology has been recalibrated to suit the individual fields.

Read news about the ranking result.

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 University of Vaasa is ranked 18th in business administration in the Global Ranking of Academic Subjects (GRAS) published by Shanghai Ranking. In 2023, the ranking evaluated more than 1,900 universities in 55 different disciplines.

The ranking focuses on publication activity, ranking universities based on five key indicators: research output (Q1), research influence (CNCl), international collaboration (IC), research quality (Top), and international academic awards (Award). Altogether there are 55 subject-specific rankings across natural sciences, engineering, life sciences, medical sciences, and social sciences.

Read news about the ranking result.

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The University of Vaasa is ranked 18th in the Times Higher Education (THE) Small Universities Ranking. Among the Nordic universities, we are ranked 4th. THE Small Universities Ranking evaluates 81 universities around the world.

The 2023 THE Small Universities Ranking highlights those universities that deliver outstanding results with a relatively small student body while meeting all the criteria of THE World University Ranking. 

Read news about the result.

Accreditations

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.

  • We are a close-knit and international university community
  • We make an innovative and responsible contribution to the society around us
  • We promote sustainability in all our activities

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: 

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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:

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Research evaluations

The University of Vaasa regularly evaluates the quality of its research, the research environment and the conditions of doing research. The aim of the external evaluations is to strengthen the quality of the research internationally, to advance academic and societal impacts of the research, and to further develop prerequisites for the research activities.

Overall research evaluations have been carried out at the university in 2022, 2015 and 2010. Diversity, meaningfulness, and focus on future were important features of the recent international research evaluation in 2022 (Research Assessment Exercise, Report 2023). 

It targeted at various aspects of research performance including scholarly publications, research funding, research cooperation and environment, and societal impact of research. According to the expert panels’ assessment, many of the university's research groups are at a high international level. The represented and timely research fields of the university enable development towards increasingly high-quality international research. The university's regional cooperation is also very strong, e.g. in the form of joint research projects.

Read more about RAE Univaasa 2022: Research at the University of Vaasa has been assessed: several research groups at a high international level

The University of Vaasa systematically takes care of the conditions for conducting research and the work of researchers. The university has also received recognition for actively enhancing researchers' working conditions and career development. 

The university participates in the European Commission's quality program (HRS4R). The related external evaluation awarded the university the HR Excellence in Research quality label for the first time in 2014. For receiving the quality label, the university commits to the common European recommendations and principles in all its practices aimed at improving the working conditions of researchers. 

In the re-evaluation in the spring of 2023, the university again performed successfully. According to the evaluation team, the University of Vaasa offers the opportunity to build a successful university career in an international and diverse community.

Read more about HRS4R: Recognition for the University of Vaasa as an inspiring and responsible work environment

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