The Hebrew University is ranked in the 90th place in the Shanghai Ranking which is considered the most important and qualitative ranking in the international world for academic institutions for the year 2021. This is its highest ranking in the past five years (since 2016, see table below). Furthermore, there is a significant improvement in the University’s ranking relative to the previous year when it was ranked between the 101-150 places. The Hebrew University succeeded in the current ranking to surpass a number of leading universities in the world.
While the Hebrew University returned to be the leading institute in Israel in the worldwide ranking, the Israeli academic institutions reached an impressive achievement – for the first time since 2013, three academic institutions in Israel are ranked among the first one hundred: the Hebrew University, the Weizmann Institute for Science climbed one rank and is now in the 92nd place, and the Technion immediately after in the 94th place. One should note that ranked in the first place are: Harvard, Stanford and Cambridge Universities, exactly as in the previous year.
Prof. Asher Cohen, President of the Hebrew University, said in response that “the trend of rising in the Shanghai Ranking bears witness to the hard work and uncompromising striving for academic excellence by all members of the academic community in Israel and in particular in the Hebrew University. I am very pleased that three academic institutions are now ranked in the first one hundred. That is evidence of the verification of research and science in Israel. We are proud that this year the Hebrew University received recognition as one of the one hundred leading universities in the world, and the leading university in Israel.
Prof. Cohen also said: “members of the academic staff and the University community succeed in setting the quality and the high level of research in Israel, in accordance with the designation of the Hebrew University to lead research in Israel and one of the leading institutions in the world. The period of the Covid pandemic proved above and beyond, that science and research are most important and constitute the basis necessary for the continuation and success of Israel and the countries of the world. We will continue to influence and contribute to the State of Israel and be the forefront of knowledge and innovation in Israel and the world.”
The Shanghai ranking is carried out by the Chinese Jiotong and is considered to be one of the most reliable rankings in the world in the academic field that is published regularly, annually. The ranking is based on a number of indices, such as the number of staff members and alumni that won Nobel Prizes and Fields Medals, number of times an article by a university’s researcher appears in the leading scientific journals such as Science and Nature, and ranking that relates to the number of times articles by researchers in the institutions were quoted by their colleagues. The Chinese survey includes more than 2,000 universities from among which are chosen the leading one thousand universities.