A régió vezető egyetemeire általánosan a javuló ranking-pozíciók jellemzőek a QS most megjelent egyetemi rangsorában. Míg a tavalyi évben feltűnően sok osztrák, finn, lengyel stb. intézmény helyezése romlott, most egyfajta korrekciót látunk: szinte valamennyi térségbeli egyetem számára megőrizte vagy éppen javította a a QS ranking a besorolását. A magyar egyetemek közül Szeged eggyel rosszabb, az ELTE eggyel jobb kategóriába került.
Látványos a korábban is előkelő helyen számontartott egyetemek előrelépése: az összes osztrák egyetem jobb helyezést ért el, mégpedig legtöbbjük nagyarányú, 10-15%-os javulással. A finneknél három intézmény van rosszabb helyen, mint tavaly, de Helsinki és az Aalto helyezése nem romlott tovább. A prágai Károly egyetemnél és megállni látszik az elmúlt fél évtized romlása, a négy évvel ezelőtti szintre erősödtek vissza, míg a posztszovjet érdekszféra másik két vezető egyeteme, a lengyel Jagelló és Varsói Egyetem hasonlóan tért vissza az öt évvel korábbi értékelési szintre (előbbi tavalyhoz képest közel nyolcvan helyezéssel előbbre van!), s ezt a változást mutatja (lényegesen hátrébb sorolva) Szófia és Zágráb is. Mivel kevéssé hihető, hogy a különböző országok teljesen különböző profilú egyetemeinél maga a teljesítmény változik egyformán, vélhetően itt vagy módszertani, vagy valamilyen általánosabb tényező állhat a háttérben (erre mutat, hogy több, korábban nem rangsorolt lengyel egyetem is bekerült az ezres listázott körbe). Belgrád, Bukarest, Kolozsvár, Pozsony helyezése nem változott, a szlovén egyetemek viszont néhány év stagnálás után javulást mutatnak.
A magyar intézmények többségénél nem tapasztalni trendváltást, többségük (Debrecen 601-650, BME és Corvinus 801-1000) a tavalyi helyezését őrzi. Az ELTE egy kategóriával előbbre került (azaz a két évvel ezelőtti 651-700-as csoportba), míg Szeged a tavalyi kedvezőbb pozíciója (470) után visszatért aó globálisan rangsorolt ezres intézményi kör második felébe, most az 501-510-es csoportba – de ezzel is a legjobb helyezést birtokló magyar intézmény maradt.
A nemzetközi versenyhelyzetet feltételezve tehát a rangsorhelyek tekintetében a magyar egyetemek lemaradása tovább nőtt mind a fejlettebb felsőoktatási rendszerek (Ausztria, Finnország) egyetemeivel, mind a régiónk élegyetemeivel szemben, míg ennek a mezőnynek második csoportjában meg tudtunk maradni.
| Country | 2014 | 2015 | 2016-2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | |
| University of Vienna | Austria | 156 | 153 | 155 | 154 | 175 | 154 |
| Technical University of Graz | Austria | 411-420 | x | x | 501-550 | 363 | 311 |
| Vienna University of Technology | Austria | 246 | 197 | 183 | 182 | 199 | 192 |
| University of Innsbruck | Austria | 295 | 299 | 286 | 279 | 266 | |
| Johannes Kepler University of Linz | Austria | 411-420 | 551-600 | 551-600 | 471-480 | 456 | 412 |
| Sofia University | Bulgaria | 701+ | 651-700 | 701-750 | 801-1000 | 751-800 | |
| University of Zagreb | Croatia | 601-650 | 701+ | 651-700 | 601-650 | 801-1000 | 751-800 |
| Charles University | Czech Republic | 244 | 279 | 302 | 314 | 317 | 291 |
| Czeh Technical University in Prague | Czech Republic | 411-420 | 451-460 | 501-550 | 491-500 | 531-540 | 498 |
| Masaryk University | Czech Republic | 551-600 | 551-600 | 601-650 | 551-600 | 571-580 | 551-560 |
| Brno University of Technology | Czech Republic | 651-700 | 601-650 | 651-700 | 601-650 | 651-700 | 651-700 |
| Palacky University | Czech Republic | x | 651-700 | 701-750 | 651-700 | 601-650 | |
| University of Helsinki | Finland | 67 | 96 | 91 | 102 | 110 | 107 |
| Aalto University | Finland | 187 | 139 | 133 | 137 | 140 | 134 |
| Abo Akademi University | Finland | 441-450 | 441-450 | 501-550 | 551-600 | 531-540 | 541-550 |
| Lappeenranta University of Technology | Finland | x | 471-480 | 501-550 | 521-530 | 491 | |
| University of Eastern Finland | Finland | 267 | 347 | 382 | 451-460 | 481 | 498 |
| University of Jyväskylä | Finland | 318 | 319 | 338 | 357 | 336 | 346 |
| University of Oulu | Finland | 259 | 358 | 411-420 | 411-420 | 376 | 374 |
| University of Tampere | Finland | 385 | 441-450 | 501-550 | 551-600 | 601-650 | 395 |
| University of Turku | Finland | 208 | 233 | 234 | 276 | 285 | 287 |
| University of Szeged | Hungary | 551-650 | 501-550 | 501-550 | 501-550 | 470 | 501-510 |
| Budapest University of Technology and Economics | Hungary | x | 701+ | 751-800 | 801-1000 | 801-1000 | |
| Eotvos Lorand University | Hungary | 601-650 | 601-650 | 601-650 | 651-700 | 701-750 | 651-700 |
| University of Debrecen | Hungary | 601-650 | 601-650 | 651-700 | 651-700 | 601-650 | 601-650 |
| University of Pécs | Hungary | x | 701+ | 751-800 | 701-750 | 651-700 | |
| Corvinus University of Budapest | Hungary | 701+ | 701+ | 701+ | 801-1000 | 801-1000 | 801-1000 |
| University of Trieste | Italy | 601-650 | 651-700 | 701+ | 701-750 | 701-750 | 701-750 |
| University of Warsaw | Poland | 335 | 344 | 366 | 411-420 | 394 | 349 |
| Jagellonian University | Poland | 371 | 411-420 | 431-440 | 461-470 | 411 | 338 |
| University of Lodz | Poland | 701+ | 701+ | 701+ | 801-1000 | 801-1000 | 801-1001 |
| Nicolaus Copernicus University | Poland | 701+ | 701+ | 701+ | 801-1000 | 801-1000 | 801-1001 |
| University of Wroclaw | Poland | 701+ | 701+ | 801-1000 | 801-1000 | 801-1001 | |
| Warsaw University of Technology | Poland | 701+ | 651-700 | 601-650 | 601-650 | 601-650 | 521-530 |
| University of Bucharest | Romania | 651-700 | 651-700 | 701+ | 701-750 | 801-1000 | 801-1000 |
| Babes-Bolyai University | Romania | 701+ | 701+ | 701+ | 801-1000 | 801-1000 | 801-1000 |
| University of Beograd | Serbia | 701+ | 701+ | 701+ | 801-1000 | 801-1000 | 801-1001 |
| Comenius University | Slovakia | 651-700 | 651-700 | 701-750 | 751-800 | 751-801 | |
| Technical University of Košice | Slovakia | x | x | x | 801-1000 | 801-1001 | |
| Slovak University of Technology Bratislava | Slovakia | x | x | x | 751-800 | 751-801 | |
| University of Ljubljana | Slovenia | 501-550 | 551-600 | 601-650 | 651-700 | 651-700 | 591-600 |
| University of Maribor | Slovenia | 701+ | x | 701+ | 801-1000 | 801-1000 | 751-800 |
| Tallinn University | Estonia | x | x | 801-1000 | 801-1000 | ||
| Tallinn University of Technology | Estonia | 601-650 | 601-650 | 601-650 | 601-650 |
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.
