Israeli universities are among the world’s best for the study of theology, mathematics and biological sciences, according to the QS World University Rankings by Subject released Wednesday.
Six Israeli programs ranked in the top 100 in their fields, out of 92 programs surveyed in Israel’s seven universities.
The annual survey by QS Quacquarelli Symonds ranked 13,883 academic programs by subject at 1,440 universities in 85 locations around the world. In last year’s survey, seven programs ranked in the top 100, out of 86 programs surveyed.
“Universities around the world have been working very hard during the past year to improve their programs, so a decline in rankings wouldn’t mean that one program’s academic level had gone down, just that there is greater competition in the global rankings for institutions that are already doing well,” said Ben Sowter, senior vice president of professional services at QS. “Israel continues to be competitive on a global scale, and more innovative than most rival countries.”
Sowter added that he expects that Israel’s successes in fighting the novel coronavirus pandemic, and its universities’ roles in medical research surrounding the crisis, will probably prove to be an asset that will help strengthen the country’s related academic programs in the coming years.
Israel’s top-ranking program is the Hebrew University’s theology, divinity & religious studies track, which ranked 13th in the world. Tel Aviv University’s theology program also placed well, ranking 32nd in the world.
In the mathematics category, all seven universities ranked in the top 500, led by the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology at No. 66, Tel Aviv University at No. 106, and Hebrew University at No. 114.
For the biological sciences ranking, six Israeli universities are featured in the top 600, with Weizmann Institute ranking highest in the country at No. 75.
Other programs cracking the top 100 in their fields were Tel Aviv University’s archaeology program and Hebrew University’s philosophy track. The Technion’s computer science came in close, at 103.
Six universities ranked for medicine, although none made the top 200 in the world this year. Weizmann Institute of Science’s medical program made the list for the first time this year, in the top 300.
“It is no secret that Israel is one of the world’s foremost hubs of technological innovation, with only South Korea and Japan producing more patented innovations per million inhabitants,” Sowter said in a statement. “At the heart of this ability to remain at the frontiers of technological progress are its universities, which conduct the cutting-edge research that is a necessary precondition of those innovations.
“This research excellence is reflected in our rankings, which measure both the productivity of each university’s research faculty, and the global impact of their academic papers.
“Hosting institutions like the Weizmann Institute of Science – whose recent contributions to global biological knowledge include mapping the stress axis in unprecedented detail and providing new insights into salmonella infection – offers a strong incentive for academic talent and innovative companies to work in, and with, Israel.”
QS uses four key metrics to compile the rankings, evaluating programs according to academic reputation, employer reputation, citations per paper and the h-index – a tool to measure the productivity of an institution’s research facility. The precise weighting of each metric varies by subject to reflect differing publication cultures across disciplines, the organization said.