MINSK, 25 January (BelTA) – Belarusian State University made it to the top 500 best universities in the Webometrics Ranking of World Universities (WRWU), BelTA learned from the press service of the university.
The January 2018 edition of the ranking saw the Belarusian university move up to 487th place versus 506th place in July 2017 (up 19 positions). The WRWU ranks around 27,000 out of more than 30,000 schools from all over the world. “This year, Belarusian State University was named second in the CIS, trailing only Lomonosov Moscow State University (235th). For the first time ever, a Belarusian school was ranked higher that St Petersburg State University, which took 491st place,” the press service noted.
According to Webometrics, Belarusian State University remains the leading higher education institution in the country. Belarusian National Technical University is second (2955th), the Academy of Public Administration under the aegis of the Belarus President is third (2972nd). Fourth place went to Yanka Kupala Grodno State University (3359th), Belarusian State University of Informatics and Radioelectronics is fifth (3544th). Belarusian State University regularly occupies high positions in the WRWU, making it to the top 2% of the world’s best universities.
Harvard University, Stanford University, and MTI traditionally top the Webometrics Ranking. Belarus’ neighboring states are represented in the list of the world’s best universities by the University of Warsaw (401st), the University of Tartu (441st), Vilnius University (744th), the University of Latvia (1128th), and Taras Shevchenko National University of Kiev (1273rd).
In 2017, Belarusian State University was ranked 401-500 (Physics category) in the 2017 Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU), one of the oldest and most prestigious university rankings. That was the first time a Belarusian school was included in the ARWU. Belarusian State University remains the only Belarusian higher education institution included in the high-status British ranking THE (Times Higher Education). It also placed 334th in QS World University Rankings 2017/18.
For more than a decade, the Webometrics Ranking of World Universities has been compiled by Laboratorio de Internet, a Spanish research laboratory. The WRWU list is updated twice a year, in January and July. It ranks higher education institutions by four indicators which assess their Internet presence and the level of scientific publications.