The global rankings of Hungarian universities present a mixed picture: of the 11 institutions included in the list, three (ELTE, Szeged, Műegyetem) are included in all four of the authoritative overall lists. ELTE ranks highest in three of these, while Szeged ranks higher in the ARWU, clearly thanks to Katalin Karikó’s 2023 Nobel Prize, which is an indicator factor in the case of the Shanghai rankings. Although QS does not evaluate Semmelweis University, it performed well in the other three rankings: it maintained its position in the ARWU, did not continue last year’s decline in the THE, and remains the best Hungarian university in the 251-300 range, while it was the only Hungarian university to move up in the US News list, with the positions of the others deteriorating. THE’s position is also noteworthy because it leads the institutions in the region, which, based on the indicators, can be explained by conscious publication work. QS gave the most positive feedback to Hungarian universities, with five institutions improving their rankings and the same number remaining in the same position.
Regionally, the universities of Central and Eastern Europe and the North Balkans remain largely unchanged in the QS rankings, with one-third improving and one-fifth deteriorating. Within this, the dynamics of the proportion of Hungarian universities paint a more favorable picture, as half of the 11 universities ranked here remain in the groups above 1000, while five have improved their rankings, with ELTE making the biggest leap forward (564), Thus, there are a total of three Czech universities (Charles, Masaryk, and the Technical University of Prague) and the same number of Polish universities (Warsaw, the Warsaw University of Technology, and Jagiellonian University in Krakow) from our region. However, two other Hungarian universities (Szeged and Debrecen) are also in this group. The situation is not significantly different in the case of THE, where Semmelweis University leads the way and Hungary’s position has been improved by the significant progress made by Óbuda University, which has moved up from the group above 1000 to the 601-800 group.
However, the subject rankings are much more informative than these general lists. It can be said that there is hardly a subject area where there is no Hungarian institution, often in the top half of the field. However, these figures should be interpreted with caution: in the overall rankings, which are much narrower and usually contain only a few hundred items, the 200-300th place achieved by Hungarian institutions means something different than if it appeared in the “big” ranking. Even so, it is positive feedback for Hungarian universities that they are ranked in so many areas, generally in the top half of the field. There are even better rankings, for example, in the QS agricultural list, MATE is consistently in the 151-200 group among the best 450 universities, Semmelweis is in the 201-250 group among the 720 universities ranked in the medical field, and ELTE is in 221st place among the 500 humanities institutions. In general, the best Hungarian universities are among the leading Czech and Polish universities in the natural sciences, social sciences, humanities, and engineering (ELTE three times, BME once), but in the biological sciences, Semmelweis has dropped in the rankings (to 281st), but is still in second place behind Charles University.
In summary, Hungarian higher education has maintained its international position, which is in the second half of the European midfield in the rankings. As we have shown several times before, the advantages or disadvantages of becoming a foundation-owned institution have not yet had a significant impact on these rankings, as the most important factor, the evaluation of publications, mostly reflects research performance in previous periods.
Dr. habil György Fábri (1964) is an habilitated associate professor (Institute of research on Adult Education and Knowledge Management, Faculty of Education and Psychology of Eötvös Loránd University), head of the Social Communication Research Group. Areas of research: university philosophy, sociology of higher education and science, science communication, social communication, church sociology. His monograph was published on the transformation of Hungarian higher education during the change of regime (1992 Wien) and on university rankings (2017 Budapest). He has edited several scientific journals, and his university courses and publications cover communication theory, university philosophy, science communication, social representation, media and social philosophy, ethics, and church sociology.
Dr. Mircea Dumitru is a Professor of Philosophy at the University of Bucharest (since 2004). Rector of the University of Bucharest (since 2011). President of the European Society of Analytic Philosophy (2011 – 2014). Corresponding Fellow of the Romanian Academy (since 2014). Minister of Education and Scientific Research (July 2016 – January 2017). Visiting Professor at Beijing Normal University (2017 – 2022). President of the International Institute of Philosophy (2017 – 2020). President of Balkan Universities Association (2019 – 2020). He holds a PhD in Philosophy at Tulane University, New Orleans, USA (1998) with a topic in modal logic and philosophy of mathematics, and another PhD in Philosophy at the University of Bucharest (1998) with a topic in philosophy of language. Invited Professor at Tulsa University (USA), CUNY (USA), NYU (USA), Lyon 3, ENS Lyon, University of Helsinki, CUPL (Beijing, China), Pekin University (Beijing, China). Main area of research: philosophical logic, metaphysics, and philosophy of language. Main publications: Modality and Incompleteness (UMI, Ann Arbor, 1998); Modalitate si incompletitudine, (Paideia Publishing House, 2001, in Romanian; the book received the Mircea Florian Prize of the Romanian Academy); Logic and Philosophical Explorations (Humanitas, Bucharest, 2004, in Romanian); Words, Theories, and Things. Quine in Focus (ed.) (Pelican, 2009); Truth (ed.) (Bucharest University Publishing House, 2013); article on the Philosophy of Kit Fine, in The Cambridge Dictionary of Philosophy, the Third Edition, Robert Audi (ed.) (Cambridge University Press, 2015), Metaphysics, Meaning, and Modality. Themes from Kit Fine (ed.) (Oxford University Press, forthcoming).
Mr. Degli Esposti is Full Professor at the Department of Computer Science and Engineering, Deputy Rector Alma Mater Studiorum Università di Bologna, Dean of Biblioteca Universitaria di Bologna, Head of Service for the health and safety of people in the workplace, President of the Alma Mater Foundation and Delegate for Rankings.
Ben joined QS in 2002 and has led institutional performance insights function of QS since its emergence following the early success of the QS World University Rankings®. His team is, today, responsible for the operational management of all major QS research projects including the QS World University Rankings® and variants by region and subject. Comprising over 60 people in five international locations, the team also operate a widely adopted university rating system – QS Stars – and a range of commissioned business intelligence and strategic advisory services.Ben has travelled to over 50 countries and spoken on his research in almost 40. He has personally visited over 50 of the world’s top 100 universities amongst countless others and is a regular and sought after speaker on the conference circuit.Ben is married and has two sons; if he had any free time it would be spent reading, watching movies and skiing.
Anna Urbanovics is a PhD student at Doctoral School of Public Administration Sciences of the University of Public Service, and studies Sociology Master of Arts at the Corvinus University of Budapest. She is graduated in International Security Studies Master of Arts at the University of Public Service. She does research in Scientometrics and International Relations.
Since 1 February 2019 Minister Palkovics as Government Commissioner has been responsible for the coordination of the tasks prescribed in Act XXIV of 2016 on the promulgation of the Agreement between the Government of Hungary and the Government of the People’s Republic of China on the development, implementation and financing of the Hungarian section of the Budapest-Belgrade Railway Reconstruction Project.
He is the past President of the Health and Health Care Economics Section of the Hungarian Economics Association.
Based in Berlin, Zuzanna Gorenstein is Head of Project of the German Rectors’ Conference (HRK) service project “International University Rankings” since 2019. Her work at HRK encompasses the conceptual development and implementation of targeted advisory, networking, and communication measures for German universities’ ranking officers. Before joining the HRK, Zuzanna Gorenstein herself served as ranking officer of Freie Universität Berlin.
His books on mathematical modeling of chemical, biological, and other complex systems have been published by Princeton University Press, MIT Press, Springer Publishing house. His new book RANKING: The Unwritten Rules of the Social Game We All Play was published recently by the Oxford University Press, and is already under translation for several languages.
