Rankings

Rankings

Riga Technical University takes part in many national and international ratings and comparison tools. International ratings promote healthy competition among universities; they may be of use for future students choosing a university to study.

Ratings allow RTU to assess its achievements according to the international criteria and weigh itself against other higher education institutions in Latvia and abroad.

Based on the ranks received within various ratings it is possible to make conclusions on the current performance and set new goals concerning organization of the study process, research activities and overall sustainable development and progress of the university.

RTU is ranked in the following international ratings: QS World University Rankings, Times Higher Education (THE) University Rankings, QS Stars University Rating. As well as sustainability rankings: Times Higher Education (THE) Impact Rankings, QS Sustainability Rankings and UI GreenMetric Rankings.

 
QS World University Rankings: Sustainability 

Riga Technical University (RTU) has been ranked in the international QS World University Rankings: Sustainability 2024 in terms of its environmental impact, ranking 771th - 780th in the overall ranking, but the highest ranking in the ranking criteria is given to the sustainability of RTU governance, where RTU is ranked 392nd.  The QS World University Rankings: Sustainability 2024 assesses the ability of universities to address globally significant environmental, social and governance issues.

The sustainability section of governance, which is included in this year's ranking for the first time and where RTU is ranked 392nd, assesses, for example, the ethical culture of the institution, the work and representation of students in the university administration, HR policies, transparency of financial reporting, and the existence of staff responsible for sustainability.

Environmental sustainability is also a strategic area for RTU, integrated in both studies and science, with a focus on research that promotes environmental sustainability, and in everyday life, with the university striving for a green lifestyle and promoting it among staff and students. The ranking ranks RTU's performance in environmental education 507th in the ranking, and in environmental sustainability 562nd. For several years RTU has also been implementing the «Green Kipsala» initiative, which encourages employees and students to conserve resources, and RTU scientists' innovations play an important role - they are tested on the RTU campus in Kipsala, thus promoting sustainable campus management.

In the social field, it assesses, for example, the impact of education on society, knowledge exchange, equal treatment of different social groups, and employability - how prepared graduates are for the labour market. RTU is aware that human resources are key, so it strives to create a motivating environment for employees and students.

The QS World University Rankings: Sustainability 2024 ranked 1403 higher education institutions, and only two universities from Latvia are included - RTU and the University of Latvia (695th place). Two universities from Estonia are included in the ranking - University of Tartu (563rd place) and Tallinn University of Technology (1201+th place). Lithuania is the most represented in the ranking, with five universities: Vilnius University (474th place), Kaunas University of Technology (586th place), Mykolas Romeris University (637th place), Vytautas Magnus University (771st-780th place) and Vilnius Gediminas Technical University (1051st-1100th place).

The top three are, in order, the University of Toronto in Canada, the University of Berkeley in California and the University of Manchester in the United Kingdom.

GreenMetric

Rising ten places, Riga Technical University (RTU) is ranked 45th in the world in the GreenMetric World University Rankings 2023. RTU is consistently the only Latvian and Baltic university to be ranked so highly, as no other university in the region has managed to rank among the 200 greenest universities in the world.

The GreenMetric ranking ranks the world's universities according to their commitment to reducing their impact on the environment. Universities' compliance with green principles is assessed across six criteria: overall infrastructure, energy efficiency and climate change mitigation activities, waste management, water efficiency, transport infrastructure and environmental education and science.

RTU has achieved the highest results in environmental education and science, transport infrastructure and the implementation of energy efficiency and climate change mitigation activities. 

RTU pays special attention to environmental, climate change and sustainability issues, which are included in the RTU Strategy, defining sustainability as one of the RTU values and meaning a balance between ecological, social and economic development, using available resources in a proportionate way. The University has taken an ambitious strategic decision to achieve climate neutrality by 2030, with RTU generating little or no carbon emissions.

The University of Liepāja, ranked 294th, is also included in GreenMetric 2023. Two universities from Lithuania - Vytautas Magnus University (ranked 445) and Mikolas Romeris University (ranked 547) - and two universities from Estonia - Estonian University of Life Sciences (ranked 593) and Estonian Academy of Arts (ranked 1019). The 1st place went to Wageningen University and Research Centre in the Netherlands, the 2nd place to Nottingham Trent University in the UK and the 3rd place to Trier University of Applied Sciences in Germany. In total, the ranking evaluates 1183 universities from 84 countries.

«GreenMetric»

 

U-Multirank

Riga Technical University (RTU) has received 15 A-level assessments in the international U-Multirank 2022 rating. That is the highest number of A-level assessments among Latvian universities. For several years in a row, RTU has convincingly obtained the best results in this rating compared to all Latvian universities included in U-Multirank 2022. This means that a significant number of RTU researchers’ publications can be found in open access scientific journals, making research results available to all interested parties.

«U-Multirank» rating consists of five dimensions of university activity – teaching and learning; research knowledge transfer; technology transfer or valorisation; international orientation; regional engagement, and in each of these dimensions, universities are evaluated on a number of indicators. This is the first year when universities have been evaluated on Open Access Publications indicator.

The performance of higher education institutions in each field is assessed on a scale from A, which means the highest assessment, to E. RTU number of A-level assessments has increased. While last year RTU was awarded 13 A-level assessments, this year, already 15. For example, in the study process, A-level assessment was granted for RTU contribution to digital education, as well as gender balance in studies. In research, RTU has received an A-level assessment for the number of interdisciplinary publications, income from research, the number of postdoctoral students, as well as for researchers' publications in open access journals.

«U-Multirank» is the biggest multidimensional rating in the world, which is a user-friendly tool that allows any future student to compare higher education institutions in an interactive way according to specific indicators. The rating is based on the information submitted by the university, various international and national databases and survey results. This year it included information about more than 1800 higher education institutions from 92 countries.

20 higher education institutions from Latvia have been included in the rating. This rating is important, because since 2016 the Ministry of Education and Science has included requirement to participate in «U-Multirank» rating in agreements with higher education institutions on allocation of state budget funds. 

Additional information about the rating: www.umultirank.org

QS Graduate Employability Ranking

Riga Technical University (RTU) has been ranked 201st-250th in the QS Graduate Employability Rankings 2021 by the prestigious rating agency "QS World University Rankings», achieving the best results in the indicator of employer-student cooperation. This confirms that RTU study programmes are valued in the labour market not only locally, but also internationally, and RTU qualitatively prepares specialists needed in the national economy.

This ranking assesses the reputation of universities among employers, the achievements of graduates, cooperation between universities and employers, cooperation between students and employers, and the employability of graduates. 

RTU scored 95.8 out of 100 points for the highest-rated employer-student cooperation, ranking 32nd among universities worldwide. The second best indicator is graduate achievement, where RTU ranks 202nd. 

In total, 679 higher education institutions were ranked this year, while 550 were included. The ranking was based on a survey of 75 000 employers, a study of the career development of 29 000 high-level professionals after graduation, and an analysis of 170 000 examples of employers' cooperation with graduates.

The top ranking is Massachusetts Institute of Technology, followed by Stanford University in second place and the University of California in third place.

More information on «QS Graduate Employability Ranking»

QS World University Rankings Europe
Riga Technical University (RTU) has reached 262nd place in the prestigious international ranking «QS World University Rankings: Europe 2024», ranking among the top three hundred universities in Europe. RTU is the only Latvian university to have achieved such a high position in this ranking, which was published on 20 September for the first time in history and which marks the position of the region's strongest universities on the European map.

RTU's contribution to attracting international students from different countries and universities is ranked the highest in the ranking, placing RTU in 6th place among the ranked universities in the criterion on the number of incoming students. RTU's reputation among employers is also highly rated. Overall, the ranking assesses universities' performance very broadly - across nine criteria, including, for example, academic reputation, student participation, graduate income, sustainability, involvement in international research, citation rate and scientific publications. 

«The rankings offer a unique opportunity for universities to benchmark themselves against other players in the world's most competitive family of higher education institutions, while policy makers can assess the individual performance of a country's universities across the widest range of data collected,» says Ben Sowter, Senior Vice President of QS Rankings.

The QS World University Rankings: Europe 2024 includes 688 European universities, with Oxford University in first place, the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH Zurich) in second place and the University of Cambridge in third place. Seven of the top ten universities in the ranking are based in the UK. 

Among the Baltic universities, the University of Tartu is the highest ranked (137th), followed by Vilnius University (177th), Tallinn University of Technology (252nd), Kaunas University of Technology (275th), Vytautas Magnus University (284th) and Tallinn University (390th). 

In Latvia, after RTU, the University of Latvia (266th place), Riga Stradins University (354th place), Latvian University of Life Sciences and Technologies and Daugavpils University (both 484th place), Institute of Transport and Communications (541st-550th place) and Ventspils University College (601st+ place) are ranked.

«QS World University Rankings Europe»

QS World University Rankings 2024

Riga Technical University (RTU) has been ranked 751-760 in the QS World University Rankings 2024, the highest among the three Latvian universities included in the ranking. The highest rankings are the proportion of foreign students at the university and RTU's reputation among employers.

The QS World University Rankings 2024 assesses universities on nine criteria - in addition to academic reputation, employer reputation, citation rate, proportion of students and academic staff, proportion of international students and international faculty, graduate employment and international research network, this year's ranking also assesses the university's contribution to sustainability.

RTU's best performance, ranked 248th, was achieved by its share of international students. Internationalisation is one of RTU's key priorities, and as a result of targeted work, the number of RTU's international students has increased in recent years, with students from more than 80 countries studying at the university.

RTU also continues to improve its performance in the Employer Reputation benchmark, moving up 78 places compared to last year. This criterion, together with the graduate employment rate, confirms the relevance of RTU study programmes to the labour market requirements of both local and foreign employers. 

The reputation of RTU among employers is an important criterion, as the Latvian labour market lacks engineering and high-tech specialists, most of whom are trained by RTU in Latvia. The University has also set as its strategic goal to proactively connect with the needs of the national economy, therefore RTU is based on science, innovation and a study process developed in cooperation with industry, which ensures the preparation of specialists necessary for the Latvian economy, thus serving as a basis for sustainable development of Latvia.

RTU has been the leading university in Latvia in the QS World University Rankings for several years. The University of Latvia, ranked 801-850, and Riga Stradiņš University, ranked 901-950, are also ranked in the ranking.

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology is ranked first, Cambridge University second and Oxford University third.

This year's ranking covers a total of 1,500 universities in 104 countries.

«QS World University Rankings»

QS University Rankings: EECA

Riga Technical University (RTU) ranks 57th in the QS Emerging Europe and Central Asia (EECA) 2022 ranking, with growth in several criteria, such as employer reputation, compared to the previous year. EECA is a regional ranking of universities in Europe and Central Asia and includes a total of 400 universities in the region.

At regional level, RTU's reputation among employers is the highest. High performance is also achieved in the following criteria: academic reputation, ratio of academic staff to students, number of scientific publications in the faculties, proportion of foreign students.

The ranking assesses universities on ten criteria: academic reputation, employer reputation, proportion of academic staff to students, proportion of academic staff with PhDs, citation rate of scientific publications, number of scientific publications in faculties, international cooperation in research, proportion of foreign faculty, proportion of foreign students, and web impact.

Five more universities from Latvia are included in the ranking - the University of Latvia is ranked 40th, Riga Stradins University is ranked 119th, Latvia University of Agriculture and Daugavpils University are ranked 241st-250th and the Institute of Transport and Communications is ranked 301th-350th.

The University of Tartu is the highest ranked university in the Baltic States, coming fourth in the ranking.

Additional information about the ranking 

Times Higher Education (THE) World University Rankings 2024

Riga Technical University (RTU) together with the University of Latvia (LU) have ranked first in Latvia in the prestigious international ranking "The Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2024" (THE WUR), sharing the same total number of points - 1001st-1200th place. RTU is the only Latvian university to have increased its position in THE WUR compared to last year, and its performance in international cooperation is the highest ranked.

 

The University's contribution to international cooperation is assessed by the share of foreign students and faculty, as well as by international cooperation in research and the citation rate of scientific publications. Internationalisation is one of RTU's most important strategic objectives and the increase in the number of foreign students is the result of targeted action. In this position, RTU ranks 642 among the 1904 universities from 108 countries.

RTU received the second highest score in the criterion on the scientific environment, ranking 656th. This item assesses the university's research productivity, reputation and research income. Cooperation with industry is the third strongest indicator, ranking RTU 874th. This item assesses how much income the university has generated from knowledge transfer, what contribution it has made to the development of companies through innovation, inventions and expertise, and its ability to attract funding from the commercial sector.

«RTU's traditional strengths are cooperation with industry and internationalisation of studies, which is a good stepping stone to start moving up the university's position in international rankings. This is not easy, as global competition also requires large investments, but we are gradually but consistently moving towards our goal, and this is confirmed by the recently published two important international rankings, where RTU has achieved the best results in Latvia, taking the lead in strengthening the country's position in the international competition in higher education and science,» says RTU Rector Tālis Juhna.

The WUR ranks Oxford University first, Stanford University second and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology third. 

Among the Baltic States, the University of Tartu is the highest performer (301st-350th), while Tallinn University of Technology is 601st-800th and Tallinn University is 1001st-1200th. From Lithuania, the top ranked universities are the Lithuanian University of Health Sciences and Vilnius University, both sharing 801-1000 places, while Kaunas University of Technology, Vilnius Gediminas Technical University and Vytautas Magnus University share 1201-1500 places. University of Gdańsk.

More on the ranking.

Times Higher Education (THE) Rankings: BRICS & Emerging Economies

Riga Technical University (RTU) has been ranked 251-300 in the Emerging Economies University Rankings 2022 by Times Higher Education (THE), one of the world's most prestigious ranking agencies. RTU's performance is ranked highest in two performance areas - industry income and international cooperation. 

The ranking assesses universities' overall performance in five performance areas: studies (learning environment), research (volume, income and reputation), citation (research impact), international cooperation (staff, students, research) and income from industry (knowledge transfer). The ranking of a university is determined by the sum of the scores.  

This year, 698 universities were ranked. In addition to RTU, the University of Latvia, Riga Stradiņš University and Latvia University of Life Sciences and Technologies were also ranked.  

From Estonia, the ranking includes the University of Tartu, Tallinn University of Technology, Estonian University of Life Sciences, Tallinn University and the Estonian Academy of Arts. From Lithuania, Vilnius University, Vytautas Magnus University, Vilnius Gediminas Technical University, Kaunas University of Technology and Lithuanian University of Health Sciences. 

The top three universities in the rankings are all from China - Beijing University is first, Tsinghua University is second and Zhejiang University is third.

«THE Emerging Economies University Rankigs»

Times Higher Education (THE) Rankings: Best universities in Europe

Riga Technical University (RTU) is ranked 400th in The Times Higher Education's Best European Universities 2024. The ranking is based on data from the influential Times Higher Education World University Rankings, which RTU first entered in September 2016.

 

4 universities from Latvia have been included in the ranking. The University of Latvia is ranked joint 400th, Riga Stradiņš University and the Latvian University of Life Sciences and Technologies are ranked joint 531st, along with other universities.

From the Baltic countries, the following universities are also ranked - University of Tartu, tied 139th, Tallinn University of Technology, tied 273rd, Lithuanian University of Health Sciences and Vilnius University, tied 342nd, and Kaunas University of Technology, tied 363rd. Tallinn University is tied for 400th place, while Vilnius Gediminas Technical University and Vytautas Magnus University are tied for 463rd place with other universities.

In total, more than 30 European countries are represented in the 2023 ranking. The top 10 universities are from the UK, Switzerland and Germany. Oxford University is in first place for another year, Cambridge University in second place and Imperial College London in third place. The ranking methodology includes an assessment of universities in terms of teaching and research environment, citation rate, income from industry and international cooperation.

«Best universities in Europe»

Times Higher Education (THE) Rankings: University Impact 2023

Assessing the performance of Riga Technical University (RTU) in implementing the United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) 17 cooperation programme, RTU has been ranked among the 301-400 world universities that are most successful in implementing the SDGs, according to the latest data from The Times Higher Education Impact Rankings 2023.

RTU's contribution to Criterion 9 - build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialisation and foster innovation - is rated highest. RTU is ranked 97th in this criterion, the highest performance of any higher education institution in Latvia. 

As a science university, RTU is committed to creating new knowledge and innovations, as well as to collaborating with industry to bring new products to the market and contribute to the sustainable development of the Latvian economy. Therefore, RTU's success in fulfilling this criterion is also natural. 

RTU's efforts to achieve Goal 13 - take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts - were also highly commended. 

Climate neutrality is also a priority for RTU, and RTU scientists play a major role in achieving this goal by conducting research, creating new solutions and commercialising products that help Latvia on its path to climate neutrality. 

RTU's contribution to Goal 8 - economic growth and employment - is also assessed on a level with this criterion. RTU is ranked 101-200 in these criteria. 

RTU's contribution to Goal 7 - renewable energy - was also commended, with RTU ranking 201-300. RTU is also ranked in the same position for its performance in Goal 11 - Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, adaptable and sustainable - and Goal 12 - Ensure sustainable consumption patterns and production models. 

RTU's performance in promoting other UN goals is also acknowledged. For example, the contribution to Goals 16 - Promote inclusive societies and build accountable and inclusive institutions - and 17 - Strengthen global partnerships - as well as Goal 3 - Promote healthy lives and well-being.

Sustainable development in general is one of RTU's priorities, which the University embodies in its various activities, as RTU aims to raise awareness among students, staff and society at large of the need to reduce its ecological footprint and promote the creation and use of environmentally friendly technologies.

«The Times Higher Education Impact Rankings»

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