Despite War, Israeli Universities Shine in Global Rankings

November 25, 2024

by: Shahar Ilan ~ Ynetnews

Monday, 25 November 2024 | Last week, the prestigious Shanghai Ranking for academic institutions published its detailed 2024 departmental rankings, and overall, it was a positive year for Israeli academia.

The decline in computer science rankings was halted, with the Weizmann Institute’s computer science department breaking into the top 100. Hebrew University climbed to 14th place globally in mathematics, with Israel boasting three universities in the top 100 for the subject.

Additionally, Israel’s two technological universities, the Technion and the Weizmann Institute of Science, ranked in the top 40 in chemistry, a highly profitable field. In journalism and communications, Israel emerged as a global leader, with Hebrew University and the University of Haifa both ranked in the top 30.

Overall, 11 Israeli academic programs are ranked among the world’s top 50.

It was also a strong year in the overall institutional rankings published in August. After several weaker years, three Israeli universities—the Weizmann Institute of Science, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and the Technion—were ranked among the top 100 globally.

The Weizmann Institute of Science led Israeli institutions, securing the 69th spot, slightly down from 68th last year. The Hebrew University of Jerusalem climbed from 86th to 81st place, while the Technion dropped from 79th to 85th, resulting in a swap between the two institutions. Additionally, the Technion was ranked 11th among the world’s top technological universities.

The Shanghai Ranking, published annually since 2003, evaluates the research performance of academic institutions based on various criteria, including the number of Nobel and Fields Medal laureates among faculty and alumni, the number of scientific papers published in leading journals such as Nature and Science, and other research achievements. The ranking assesses over 2,500 universities worldwide, highlighting the top 1,000.

The high status of Israeli academia has become de rigueur, but it is important to remember that Israel is a country of just 10 million inhabitants. When calculating the number of institutions in the top 100 relative to population size, Israel ranks fourth in the world, trailing only Switzerland, Singapore and Denmark, and ahead of countries like France, Germany, the UK and Sweden.

Last week, rankings were also published for specific academic departments, including technological fields, which hold special significance for the Startup Nation. The good news is that the decline of Israeli programs in computer science has been halted. The Weizmann Institute, which dropped last year to the 100–150 range (exact rankings are only published for the top 50), returned to the top 100. Ben-Gurion University and the Technion, which also saw declines, regained ground, and the University of Haifa entered the top 100 for the first time.

Posted on November 25, 2024

Source: (Excerpt of an article originally published by Ynetnews on November 24, 2024. Time-related language has been modified to reflect our republication today. See original article at this link.)

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