EPFL in the academic rankings
Academic rankings are now consulted by all decision-makers, professors, students and parents, and even by a wider public curious to assess the “quality” of universities. And who cares what quality means when it comes to organizations as complex as academic institutions?
Rankings have become indispensable, but it’s worth remembering that the first worldwide comparison of universities dates back only ten years or so! The first Shanghai Jiao Tong Academic Rankings of World Universities dates back to 2003. Since then, a number of initiatives have attempted to list the performance of academic institutions. Some have come from for-profit organizations, others from universities, governments or supranational agencies.
Some use a mix of performance indicators (input and output) and are largely based on reputation surveys. None of these rankings is perfect, but they all shed some light on the universities under scrutiny. An analysis of all the rankings gives a fairly reliable idea of the relative importance, perception and performance of academic institutions.
EPFL is one of the world’s most prestigious universities for the quality of its education and research. The table below reflects our School’s results in these various international rankings. The rankings glossary defines the various rankings presented.
*Available in french only*