Press release from the CHE – Centre for Higher Education Development, Gütersloh, Germany
The CHE – Centre for Higher Education Development in Germany has drawn up a Ranking of Excellent European Graduate Programmes (in short: the CHE ExcellenceRanking) for the academic disciplines of biology, chemistry, physics and mathematics. This ranking supports the search for a suitable higher education institution (HEI) for master or doctoral programmes in Europe.
The CHE ExcellenceRanking highlights the research strengths of European HEIs. It also gives those HEIs listed in the ranking useful ideas to further improve their already excellent programmes.
On the basis of four indicators (number of publications, citations in relation to the international standard, number of oft-cited authors and number of projects in the EU’s Marie Curie research promotion programme ), about 500 specialist departments from about 250 HEIs in 20 European countries were identified as part of a pre-selection process. These departments were performing particularly well against at least one of the indicators and were accordingly awarded a bronze, silver or gold medal. Departments that won a silver or gold medal attained top group status. Those that won at least three silver medals attained excellence group status.
Wageningen Universiteit with biology in the Excellence Group
A total of seven Dutch universities obtained Excellence Group status. The Wageningen Universiteit represented the Netherlands by attaining a place in the Excellence Group for biology. Three gold medals were awarded for citations, publications, and outstanding researcher categories.
In addition to the quantitative measurements, the CHE ExcellenceRanking also contains a great deal of additional information on master or doctoral programmes, research groups and research focal points of given departments as well as accommodation possibilities and study fees. It is intended to widen the CHE ExcellenceRanking to other disciplines in the future.
The CHE – Centre for Higher Education Development, based in Gütersloh, is an independent institution that is committed to reform of the higher education system. Every year, the CHE compiles a fresh CHE UniversityRanking comparing European HEIs for first year students. For the first time, the CHE ExcellenceRanking provides a comparison of the best European university research facilities for prospective master and doctoral programme students. The results are available on the internet for free. Facts and information about the CHE ExcellenceRanking can be found at www.che-excellence-ranking.eu. The results can be found at www.excellence-ranking.org.