EPFL is at the forefront of young universities in 2015

© Alain Herzog / EPFL 2015

© Alain Herzog / EPFL 2015

EPFL leads the world ranking of "universities under 50 years old" established by the Times Higher Education magazine.

The academic ranking set by the Times Higher Education magazine (THE) is, alongside Shanghai’s, one of the most followed in the world.

However, even its publisher admits that "THE World University Ranking" tends to favor long-established institutions. That is why since 2012 he decided to publish the ranking of the "100 best universities under 50" (100 under 50), "to reflect the characteristics of young universities and reduce the impact of subjective criteria linked to academic reputation."

Ever since its first edition in 2012, EPFL (founded in 1969) was ranked 2nd. This year it came ahead of Pohang University of Science and Technology (Korea) and moved to the first place! The 2015 winners are announced today in Dublin.

The thirteen performance indicators considered for this ranking are the same as those assessed for "THE World University Ranking", but their weighting has been slightly re-calibrated. They are divided into the following areas:

  • Research (volume, income and reputation): 30%
  • Citations (research influence): 30%
  • Teaching: 30%
  • International outlook: 7.5%
  • Innovation (industry income): 2.5%

“Obviously, we are pleased with these excellent results, which underline the effectiveness of the measures taken in recent years for EPFL’s development, said Patrick Aebischer, president of the school. "The active recruitment of tenure-track assistant professors, the encouragement to entrepreneurship and the various educational reforms we have carried out have undoubtedly played a role to get us here.”