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U Multirank

About Multirank

U-Multirank is a new multidimensional, user-driven approach to international ranking of higher education institutions. It compares the performances of higher education institutions – in short: universities – in the five broad dimensions of university activity: (1) teaching and learning, (2) research, (3) knowledge transfer, (4) international orientation and (5) regional engagement.

Based on the results of feasibility covering 150 universities which was carried out in 2010/11, the European Commission decided to fund the implementation of U-Multirank. This roll out is carried out by a consortium led by the Center for Higher Education Policy Studies (CHEPS), the University of Twente in the Netherlands and the Centre for Higher Education (CHE) in Germany. Other partner organisations include the Centre for Science and Technology Studies (CWTS) at Leiden University, the International Centre for Research on Entrepreneurship, Technology and Innovation Management (INCENTIM) at the Catholic University Leuven, the academic publisher Elsevier, the Bertelsmann Foundation, and the software firm Folge 3. The consortium also works closely with a range of national ranking partners and stakeholder organisations.

The first U-Multirank ranking was the 2014 edition, covering more than 850 higher education institutions from more than 70 countries. It provided a ranking at the institutional level as a whole as well as at the level of specific fields of study. For the latter, the fields of electrical engineering, mechanical engineering, business studies and physics are covered in the 2014 edition. Thereafter, the coverage of institutions and subject areas will be expanded per year. The 2015 edition added more than 350 new universities and three new subject areas: psychology, computer science and medicine while expanding the coverage of countries to 83.

U-Multirank is an independent ranking prepared with seed funding from the European Commission’s Erasmus+ programme. The work of the U-Multirank consortium is overseen by an Advisory Board.