University of Nova Gorica best university in Slovenia, in 186th place in RUR (Round University Ranking)

According to the results of the international Round University Ranking system ( "RUR":http://roundranking.com/universities.html ), performing evaluations and rankings of leading world universities, the University of Nova Gorica in 2017 was ranked in the excellent 186th place, improved last year's result (203th place in 2016), and thus ranked among the elite group of world’s most renowned universities. Among the latter the most highly esteemed U.S. and British universities prevail, such as the California Institute of Technology, Stanford University, Harvard University, the University of Oxford, the University of Cambridge etc.

In the area of the quality of teaching, the University of Nova Gorica was ranked in an even higher, excellent 89th place, also due to the extremely favourable student-professor ratio of 1:4.

The results of RUR show that in terms of all quality assurance indicators the University of Nova Gorica holds a remarkably strong lead over the rest of the universities in Slovenia. Up to date no other Slovenian university has been ranked so high on any of the internationaly recognised world universities rankings. Moreover, it performed better than older and larger universities in Slovenia’s cross-border area, for example Italy’s University of Trieste, University of Padua, University Ca' Foscari of Venice. (See "The world map of RUR Ranking":http://roundranking.com/world-map.html )

RUR measures the performance of the leading world universities on an annual basis by universities’ overall results achieved across four key missions: teaching, research, international diversity and financial sustainability. Detailed UNG RUR-ranking results by individual categories for years 2016 and 2017 are attached.

RUR rankings are based on the data on world universities collected by Thomson Reuters, as part of the "Global Institutional Profiles Project":http://ip-science.thomsonreuters.com/globalprofilesproject/.

Thomson Reuters’ assessment of universities is based on data obtained from three main sources: data on the institution’s publications and citations from Thomson Reuters Web of Science®; the results of the annual Academic Reputation Survey and the data provided by the institution directly to Thomson Reuters. A database is thus formed on the institution’s scientific and teaching performance, its sources of financing and the characteristics of its students and staff.

On the basis of the data obtained RUR’s analysis is performed, considering 20 indicators of quality performance in the previously mentioned four key mission areas. The major part of the assessment is represented by the indicators in the area of research (40%) and teaching (40%). All indicators take into account the size of the institution. Consequently, small and large universities can equally be compared in terms of their performance.

Despite its short tradition (celebrating its 20th anniversary in 2015) and a relatively small size, the University of Nova Gorica excels on an international scale. Its excellence has also been recognised in the U-Multirank 2015, 2016 and 2017 comparative world univeristy rankings and can by no means be considered as a coincidence but rather represents the results of hard work and the clearly defined mission of the development of the University of Nova Gorica. The University’s scientific excdellence was also identified and emphazied in the European Commission’s report on the Scientific Output and Collaboration of European Universities in the period from 2007 to 2011, stating that according to the criteria of scientific excellence and the scientific impact of its publications, The University of Nova Gorica is ranked among five best universities in Europe, including the University of Oxford, the University of Cambridge, the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) and the ETH Zürich.

Such university rankings represent a valuable source of information for prospective students deciding at which university to study, since the quality of studies and study programmes ensurung high employment prospects are of key importance. The rankings can also serve to employers, providing them with the information which universities provide the most highly qualified young professionals.