Seven of Israel’s university departments have been ranked among the world’s top 100 in their respective disciplines, according to the latest QS World University Rankings by Subject published on Wednesday.
The 10th annual edition of the QS ranking, which assessed the performance of 86 programs at eight Israeli higher education institutions, showed an overall regression for Israel’s higher education system, compared to global competitors.
Four key metrics were used 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 rankings compared more than 13,100 university programs taken by students at 1,368 universities in 83 locations worldwide.
Israel’s leading university is the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, the research showed, with four programs ranked among the top 100 in their field. The Hebrew University’s Theology, Divinity and Religious Studies Department was named 11th best in the world – Israel’s only top-20 department. The university’s Classics and Ancient History Department was ranked 34th worldwide.
A further five Israeli departments were ranked among the 51-100 bracket of global leaders: Hebrew University’s Communication and Media Studies and its Philosophy programs; Tel Aviv University’s Archaeology program; Weizmann Institute of Science’s Biological Sciences program; and the Technion- Israel Institute of Technology’s Mathematics program.
According to the research, 40 of Israel’s 86 ranked programs declined in the rankings this year, while just eight improved their positions. Since 2016, the proportion of top-ranked programs held by Israeli universities has halved from 0.2% to 0.1%. A total of 37 programs remained stable within their bracket and six were new entrants into the table.
Israeli institutions were recognized for their level of knowledge-production, with 60 of 86 featured departments achieving at least a score of 80/100 for research impact. The average score for graduate employability, based on employer reputation, was only 47.4/100.