Two Israeli Universities Named Among World’s Top 100 Institutions

Two Israeli universities – the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem – ranked in the top 100 universities in the Shanghai Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU) 2018, published last month.

The Technion, dubbed Israel’s Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), ranked in 77th place in this year’s report, up from 93rd last year. The Technion has consistently ranked in the top 100 since 2012.

Meanwhile, the Hebrew University came in the 95th spot in this year’s ranking, up from the 101-150 bracket in 2017. It was the only year the Jerusalem university spent below the 100th spot since the ARWU was established in 2003. Its highest ranking was 53rd in 2012.

Technion – Israel Institute of Technology. Photo via the Technion Wikipedia Page

Harvard University nabbed the top spot in the annual ranking , followed by Stanford University, and the University of Cambridge in third place. The actual MIT came in 4th rank, proceeded by the University of California, Berkeley which rounded out the top five.

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The ARWU, also known as the Shanghai Ranking, is published yearly by the Center for world-class Universities of Shanghai Jiao Tong University. The ranking evaluates institutions worldwide using criteria such as the number of Nobel Prize laureates and other prize-winners, and the number of scientific publications in leading journals. The comprehensive Chinese research looks at 1,200 universities and selects the leading 500.

Late last year, the Technion inaugurated the Guangdong Technion-Israel Institute of Technology (GTIIT) near Shantou University in the Chinese city of Shantou, Guangdong province. It currently offers undergraduate degrees in Chemical Engineering, Biotechnology and Food Engineering, and Materials Engineering and graduate programs in Chemical Engineering, Materials Engineering, Food Engineering, Environmental Engineering, Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry, and Biology.

The new campus of the Guangdong Technion Israel Institute of Technology via www.gtiit.edu.cn

Also in 2017, the Technion and Cornell University partnered to launch Cornell Tech, a sprawling tech-focused graduate campus on New York’s Roosevelt Island. The campus spans 12 acres on the 147 acre East River island, and includes academic buildings, offices and a housing complex for students and faculty.

Earlier this year, the Technion announced a ten-year, $1.8 billion fundraising campaign to support “world-changing, life-saving innovation, and better prepare for the challenges and opportunities [of] the digital revolution.”

Technion President Professor Peretz Lavie said in a statement that “the Technion’s presence in the top 100 leading universities worldwide over the past seven consecutive years is the fruit of the hard and dedicated work of the Technion management, faculty members and employees.”

Mentioning the university’s global partnerships, Lavie added that the “Shanghai Ranking provides an exciting international stamp of recognition of the Technion’s excellence.”

In June, the Hebrew University squeezed into the top 100 global university brands in the 2018 Times Higher Education World Reputation Rankings survey.

The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Mount Scopus Campus. By User: Grauesel at wikivoyage shared, CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons

It marked the first time since 2014 that an Israeli university has made the prestigious list. The Technion had previously been included.

Hebrew University President Asher Cohen said at the time that “to be judged among the Top 100 most powerful university brands is a great source of pride for everyone at Hebrew University and for Israel as a whole.

The World Reputation Rankings is based on “an invitation-only opinion survey of senior, published academics” asked to name no more than 15 universities that they believed were the best for research and teaching in their field, Times Higher Education said then.