RIGA TECHNICAL UNIVERSITY LISTED AMONG 50 BEST UNIVERSITIES IN THE «NEW EUROPE» RANKING

The ranking evaluates the performance of universities of 13 European countries that have joined the European Union (EU) after 2004 based on five criteria – studies, research, citation, cooperation with industry and internationalisation. RTU is among the 10% of the best universities of these 13 countries. The results of the ranking were published on 25 April.

The first place of «New Europe» ranking was taken by the University of Tartu, the second – Cyprus University of Technology, and the third – the University of Cyprus. Altogether the ranking comprised the 50 best universities of these countries, and all the new EU member countries, except Malta, are represented. The most represented by the number of universities is the Czech Republic – 13 universities, Poland is represented by 12, and Hungary – seven universities. In this ranking, Latvia is represented by RTU and the University of Latvia.

The authors of the ranking indicate that there are significant changes in the positive direction in the former communist regime countries since joining the EU; however, when evaluating the performance in research, the Iron Curtain is very notable on the map. In regard to the citation indicators, the «old» European countries significantly outmatch the «new» European countries, except Eastern Germany. Also, in the attraction of foreign students the former Eastern Bloc countries are lagging behind significantly, for instance, only 3.4% of Polish university students are foreign students, Czech Republic has better results in this matter as its universities have attracted 10.6% of foreign students. It must be noted that this semester the specific proportion of foreign students in RTU reached 14%.