"QS World University Rankings: Europe 2025" includes 7 Latvian universities:
- Riga Technical University (RTU) is in the shared 258th place (last year it took 262nd place);
- The University of Latvia (LU) is in shared 267th place (266th place last year);
- Riga Stradiņš University (RSU) occupies a shared 377th place (last year - 354th place);
- Latvia University of Life Sciences and Technologies (LBTU) is in 455th place (last year - 484th place);
- Daugavpils University is 521-530. in place (last year – in 484th place);
- Transport and Telecommunication Institute is 531-540. in place (last year – in 541-550 place);
- Ventspils University of Applied Sciences, like last year, is in 601+ place.
The best in Latvia: RTU
RTU "QS World University Rankings: Europe 2025" has improved its performance and has been rated as the best university in Latvia for the second year in a row. RTU was in 262nd place last year.
RTU's contribution to attracting exchange students from abroad has been rated the highest this year. In this criterion, Latvia has received a 100% rating and 3rd rank among the best universities in Europe. Similarly, RTU has high results in the criterion of diversity of international students - 93rd rank in Europe. On the other hand, the activity of RTU students using international mobility opportunities was rated as 107th.
Traditionally RTU's reputation from the point of view of employers has also earned recognition, in this criterion the university is ranked 130th, while the income of RTU graduates after graduation is rated 138th among European universities in the ranking.
LU stands out for its graduates' employment
LU is 267th in this year's ranking, ahead of 61% of the 685 European universities from 42 countries included in the ranking. LU stands out the most in terms of graduate employment indicators, occupying 19th place.
"The high evaluation is a confirmation of the value of the LU diploma. Employment of graduates is one of the most important indicators of the quality of studies, therefore cooperation with the industry and employers, as well as forecasting the development of the labor market, is one of the priorities of the LU. It is important to us that our graduates succeed in life and can realize their potential, which is why the motto of this year's admission campaign of the LU is - Dream boldly!" emphasizes Professor and Rector of the University of Latvia Gundars Bērziņš.
LU also has good results in terms of academic reputation, citation of research articles, international research cooperation and sustainability. LU has significantly higher results than the average in the region in the number of research articles in various branches of research, in the citation of scientific articles, as well as in the mobility of students both to and from the university.
LBTU – 29 places higher
Moving up from 484th place, LBTU is ranked 455th this year. The university states that this is a competitive result for a small-sized university in the European region.
LBTU was rated the highest in the criterion "incoming exchange students", which took 82nd place, and "outgoing exchange students", which took 185th place. High ranking places, surpassing more than half of the universities included in the ranking, were also obtained in the criteria "academic reputation", "reputation of employers", "employment indicators" and "number of publications in the field of research". In the criteria "academic reputation", "citability" and "number of publications in the direction of research", LBTU has the highest results among Latvian universities.
How are other Baltic universities doing in the ranking this year?
- The University of Tartu is in 140th place (last year it was in 137th place);
- Vilnius University is in 178th place (last year - 177th place),
- Tallinn University of Technology is in 254th place (252nd place last year);
- Kaunas University of Technology is in 256th place (275th place last year);
- Vytautas Magnus University is in 267th place (284th place last year);
- Vilnius Gediminas Technical University is in 316th place (last year - 307th place);
- Mikolas Romeris University is in 348th place (last year – shared 349th place);
- Tallinn University takes 393rd place (last year - 390th place);
- Klaipeda University – 445th place (last year – shared 459th place).
Second time
In total 684 European universities are included in the QS World University Rankings: Europe 2025. The Swiss Federal Institute of Technology "ETH Zurich" ranks 1st (last year - 2nd place), the 2nd place is taken by the King's College London (last year - 6th place), and the 3rd place - Oxford University (last year - 1st place).
The position of universities in the "QS World University Rankings: Europe" rating is significant, as it allows you to compare their performance with other higher education institutions in the region, allowing you to understand the university's performance in the European context.
In the ranking the performance of higher education institutions is evaluated according to 12 different criteria, including, for example, academic reputation, proportion of students, income of graduates, sustainability, involvement in the international research environment, citation and scientific publications.
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