THE and Reuters rate science and technology transfer
Two new ranking results: TUM strong in research and innovation
The "THE World University Ranking" of the British publication Times Higher Education surveys scholars worldwide about the reputation of universities. In addition, it seeks out data such as the number of publications per scholar, citations per publication, staff-to-student ratio, and third-party research funding, as well as measures of internationalization.
TUM is once again by far the top technical university in Germany. With the rank of 53 worldwide, it has improved its position compared to previous years. Apart from TUM, Germany's front runners are the University of Munich (LMU), the University of Heidelberg, and the Humboldt University of Berlin. In Europe, TUM counts among the top four technical universities after Imperial College London, ETH Zurich, and EPF Lausanne. The lists are headed by universities in the United States and the United Kingdom.
Influence of patents and publications – TUM is among the most innovative
The ranking list "Reuters Top 100 World's Most Innovative Universities," compiled for the first time, has the goal of comparing the innovative capacity of scientific institutions. What that means above all is how strongly research results flow into product development. For this ranking the British news agency analyzed, among other factors, how many patents the institutions applied for and were granted, and how frequently these patents were cited in other patent applications or in industrial research publications.
According to this analysis TUM is, with the rank of 50, the most innovative German university. It is followed by the University of Erlangen-Nürnberg, LMU, the University of Freiburg, the Free University of Berlin, and the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology. Universities in the USA stand at the top of the list.
"All of these rankings have their weaknesses, but collectively they probably yield the correct overall picture," says TUM President Wolfgang A. Herrmann. "Ten places up or down could be an accident due to the complexity of the basic data. However, whoever consistently appears in the top 100 worldwide – in every ranking, year after year – can't be doing much wrong."
More information:
THE World University Ranking