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The University of Helsinki is the oldest and largest institution of academic education in Finland, an international scientific community of 40,000 students and researchers. In international university rankings, the University of Helsinki typically ranks among the top 100. The University of Helsinki seeks solutions for global challenges and creates new ways of thinking for the best of humanity. Through the power of science, the University has contributed to society, education and welfare since 1640.helsinki.fi
Study Areas and Degree Levels
| Undergraduate | Postgraduate | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Arts & Humanities | ||||
| Business & Social Sciences | ||||
| Language & Cultural | ||||
| Medicine & Health | ||||
| Engineering | ||||
| Science & Technology |
Yearly Tuition Range
| Undergraduate | Postgraduate | |
|---|---|---|
| Local students | 0-1,000 US$ (0-750 Euro) | 0-1,000 US$ (0-750 Euro) |
| International students | 0-1,000 US$ (0-750 Euro) | 0-1,000 US$ (0-750 Euro) |
SUCCESS IN UNIVERSITY RANKINGS
In most global university rankings, the University of Helsinki ranks in the top 50–100, or the top 0.5 percentile. This page showcases the University’s success in both overall and field-specific rankings. At the end, we describe how different rankings are calculated.91On average, 91st globally.31On average, 31st in Europe.4.On average, 4th in the Nordic countries.1First in Finland.
Among the best in the world
Depending on the method of calculation used, there are approximately 18,000–23,000 universities in the world. On average, the University of Helsinki ranks among the top 100 universities globally, or the top 0.5 percentile.
Europe
There are approximately 4,000 universities in Europe. On average, the University of Helsinki ranks among the top 30 European universities, or the top percentile
Nordic countries
Only a handful of Nordic universities are ranked among the global top 100. On average, the University of Helsinki ranks among the top four Nordic universities.
Best in Finland
Finland has 14 universities, of which the University of Helsinki is ranked the best in all key general rankings
High impact in sustainable development
The THE University Impact Rankings assess how well universities are promoting sustainable development through their operations and carrying out their third mission, public engagement. The rankings are based on the Sustainable Development Goals established by the UN in 2016.
In 2020 the University of Helsinki was placed 80th in the world in the THE University Impact Rankings. The University of Helsinki was the most successful in the following individual indicators used in the rankings:
- Climate action: 6th
- Sustainable cities and communities: 35th
University of Helsinki in the THE University Impact Rankings
Discipline-specific ranking results
Discipline-specific rankings provide comparative information on the operations and reputation of universities in certain disciplines. If you wish to compare the quality of research at various universities in a certain discipline, such as atmospheric sciences or chemistry, a discipline-specific ranking may be a useful tool.
What information can be gained from discipline-specific rankings, and what cannot?
The classifications of disciplines used in the rankings are based on the groupings used by international scientific journals.
Discipline-specific citation numbers are calculated on the basis of the scientific journal where the article has been published. The faculty or unit within the university in question where the scholar works does not affect the ranking.
Discipline-specific rankings cannot be used to rate disciplines in order of excellence within a university.
This is because the number of researchers varies by discipline, and individual research areas are not pursued equally extensively by all universities in the world. Moreover, the faculties and discipline classifications of universities do not necessarily correspond to the groupings used in rankings.
The University of Helsinki’s discipline-specific ranking results
What do university rankings measure: Shanghai, QS, THE, NTU and U.S. News
There are roughly a dozen global general rankings, alongside which there are a number of global specific rankings. All rankings utilise different datasets and computational models. Below, we describe the indicators used by the five rankings which we monitor closely.
All rankings measure the amount of citations by other scholars to universities’ research publications. Citations are collected into various research databases.
In databases, research in the humanities and social sciences as well as research in languages other than English are underrepresented. Regardless, citations are a strong point for the University of Helsinki in all rankings.
The ShanghaiRanking, or the Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU), puts emphasis on the most successful researchers and the best-known publications.
ARWU is a fairly stable ranking, with the placement of individual universities fluctuating relatively little. In this ranking, the University of Helsinki has fared the best in the citation indexes and the ranking of highly cited researchers, while its poorest success has come in the indicators for Nobel Laureates and Fields Medalists.
There are also regional and discipline-specific rankings under ARWU.
ARWU, which is published by Shanghai Jiao Tong University, was first released in 2003.
Ranking indicators and their impact on the overall ranking of universities
30%: Nobel Prizes and Fields Medals
The reputation indicator of ARWU comprises two categories:
- 20%: Institution where the recipient worked at the time of winning the award
- 10%: Institution where the recipient has studied
The University of Helsinki is awarded points for
- The Nobel Prize awarded to A. I. Virtanen
- The Fields Medal awarded to Lars Ahlfors
- The bachelor’s degree completed by Bengt Holmström at the University of Helsinki
The award indicators represent universities’ historical reputation and recognition. They are also meant to compensate for the fact that the ShanghaiRanking does not include a separate survey on university reputation.
20%: Research citations
ARWU uses the reference index of the Clarivate Analytics Web of Science database for ranking citations.
20%: Highly cited researchers
ARWU uses the Clarivate Analytics Highly Cited Researchers list to rank researchers with the most citations by fellow researchers. The list includes the most highly cited percentile from 22 different fields of science.
The list of highly cited researchers is in constant flux. If a researcher transfers to another university, they take the points awarded to them with them.
20%: Number of publications in Nature and Science
10%: All of the above indicators weighted by the number of researchers and teachers
The purpose of this indicator is to even out the impact of differences in size among universities. This criterion also assumes that each teacher conducts research of as high a standard as possible.
Rankings
The University of Helsinki belongs to the top 100 universities in the world and the top 50 universities in Europe.
| Ranking | Year | Rank (in the world) | Rank (in Europe) |
|---|---|---|---|
| QS World University Rankings | 2021 | 104 | 37 |
| Times Higher Education World University Rankings | 2021 | 98 | 36 |
| Shanghai Jiao Tong Academic Ranking of World Universities | 2020 | 74 | 27 |
World University Rankings
| 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| World University Rankings | 52 | 50 | 47 | 46 | 66 | 56 | 64 | 68 | 69 | 71 | 81 | 79 | 90 | 93 | 97 |
By Fields
| Field | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Agriculture | 15 | 17 | 19 | 26 | 13 | 22 | 19 | 19 | 28 | 27 | 30 | 34 | 36 | 34 |
| Engineering | 183 | 190 | 298 | 295 | 298 | 238 | – | – | – | 401-450 | 401-450 | 351-400 | 401-450 | – |
| Life Sciences | 60 | 50 | 40 | 49 | 50 | 56 | 53 | 57 | 70 | 60 | 62 | 67 | 64 | 65 |
| Medicine | 45 | 50 | 52 | 67 | 62 | 60 | 79 | 80 | 84 | 82 | 91 | 91 | 88 | 103 |
| Natural Sciences | 95 | 102 | 95 | 112 | 92 | 82 | 97 | 93 | 83 | 121 | 100 | 121 | 128 | 152 |
| Social Sciences | 99 | 149 | 127 | 144 | 181 | 172 | 105 | 122 | 121 | 113 | 130 | 123 | 114 | 135 |
By Subjects
| Subject | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Agricultural Sciences | 12 | 13 | 19 | 21 | 30 | 44 | 50 | 55 | 67 | 78 | 74 |
| Biology & Biochemistry | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 63 | 62 | 49 |
| Chemistry | 220 | 201 | 222 | 226 | 259 | 260 | 279 | 296 | 301-350 | 301-350 | 301-350 |
| Chemical Engineering | 275 | 167 | 185 | 264 | 252 | – | – | 351-400 | 351-400 | 401-450 | – |
| Civil Engineering | 228 | 257 | – | – | 251 | 268 | 256 | 285 | 273 | 301-350 | – |
| Clinical Medicine | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 91 | 92 | 104 |
| Computer Science | 253 | 203 | 235 | 247 | 194 | 214 | 219 | 250 | 280 | 294 | 351-400 |
| Economics & Business | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| Electrical Engineering | 275 | – | 289 | – | 258 | – | 351-400 | 351-400 | 351-400 | 351-400 | 301-350 |
| Environment / Ecology | 27 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 24 | 34 | 36 | 43 | 44 | 45 | 39 |
| Geosciences | 46 | 36 | 31 | 37 | 36 | 37 | 45 | 46 | 40 | 52 | 58 |
| Immunology | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 116 | 116 | 110 |
| Materials Science | – | 286 | 238 | 270 | 252 | 294 | 351-400 | 351-400 | 301-350 | 301-350 | 401-450 |
| Mathematics | 133 | 92 | 111 | 132 | 169 | 149 | 136 | 108 | 195 | 204 | 231 |
| Mechanical Engineering | – | – | – | – | 207 | – | – | 451-500 | 451-500 | – | – |
| Microbiology | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 51 | 62 | 71 |
| Molecular Biology & Genetics | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 46 | 49 | 56 |
| Neuroscience & Behavior | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 97 | 93 | 104 |
| Pharmacology & Toxicolog | – | 39 | 45 | 46 | 81 | 65 | 51 | 62 | 77 | 82 | 103 |
| Physics | 147 | 122 | 100 | 125 | 111 | 97 | 144 | 114 | 168 | 177 | 196 |
| Plant & Animal Science | 41 | 36 | 30 | 25 | 22 | 30 | 22 | 26 | 29 | 31 | 30 |
| Psychiatry / Psychology | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 127 | 128 | 141 |
| Social Sciences, General | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 90 | 90 | 113 |
| Space Science | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 66 | 80 | 87 |
| Energy Science & Engineering | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| Environmental Science & Engineering | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 77 |
| Biomedical Engineering | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
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