ranking

Rankings, accreditations and evaluations

Rankings Success of the University of Vaasa

Times Higher Education (THE) World University Rankings 2023: 351 – 400

THE World University Rankings 2023 logo

The Shanghai Global Ranking of Academic Subjects (GRAS) 2022: Business Administration 151 – 200, Management 401 – 500

Shanghai ranking logo

Times Higher Education (THE) Young University Rankings 2022

THE Young University Rankings 2022 University of Vaasa ranked 70th

THE World University Rankings 2022 by subject: Business and economics 201 – 250

THE World University Ranking by subject logo

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:

  • Education 30% (teaching reputation, academic staff to student ratio, doctoral degrees to undergraduate degrees and academic staff, university income to academic staff ratio)
  • Research 30 % (research reputation, publications in relation to academic staff, research funding in relation to academic staff)
  • References to research 30 %
  • Internationalisation 7,5 % (percentage of foreign students, percentage of foreign academic staff, international co-publications)
  • Research funding from companies in relation to the academic staff 2.5%

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:

  • Teaching (the learning environment)
  • Research (volume, income and reputation)
  • Citations (research influence)
  • International outlook (staff, students, research) and industry income

The THE business and economics subject ranking assesses universities by their performance in the following disciplines:

  • Business and management
  • Accounting and finance
  • Economics and econometrics

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:

  • Research performance (Q1)
  • Effectiveness (CNCI)
  • International cooperation (IC)
  • Quality of research (Top)
  • International academic awards (Award).

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.

Shanghai ranking logo

Accreditations Our accredited degree programmes

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.

EFMD

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:

ASIIN accreditation logo

Evaluations

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.

RAE Univaasa 2022 report