Israeli universities rise in global ranking

The Hebrew University of Jerusalem was ranked 95 in the world, returning to the top 100 after it was knocked out of it in 2017 for the first time in the ranking’s 15-year history. “The trend of improvement compared to last year’s Shanghai ranking is evidence of hard work and uncompromising striving for excellency,” commented Hebrew University President Prof. Asher Cohen.

“We are proud that again, the Hebrew University is recognized as one of the world’s 100 leading universities,” he said, adding that the competition was getting harder every year due to “significant investment” by East Asian countries in academic institutions.

The Technion’s president, Prof. Peretz Lavie, commented that the institution’s presence in the top 100 for the seventh year in a row was “the result of hard and dedicated work” by its staff and managers. “We constantly measure ourselves and improve regardless of international rankings, but of course a high place in the Shanghai ranking is an exciting stamp of international recognition of the Technion’s excellence,” he added.

The ranking of the rest of Israel’s universities was unchanged compared to 2017. The Weitzmann Institute of Technology was included in the group of institutions ranked 101-150, the Tel Aviv University was in the group ranked 151-200, and both the Bar-Ilan University and Ben-Gurion University of the Negev remained in the group ranked 401-500.

There were no changes in the global top 10 institutions compared to last year, with the US’s Harvard and Stanford universities taking the top two spots, respectively, follow by Britain’s Cambridge.

Michael Bachner