CDP Center analysed how the number and place of Hungarian universities in the leading world university ranking QS World University Rankings by Subject has changed.

In 2020 Hungarian universities were mentioned 49 times in the rankings by subject, and in 2024 – 58 times! The growth was 20%! Almost all Hungarian universities increased their position in rankings.

The greatest growth was shown by Eötvös Loránd University (ELTE) - from 11 subjects to 19, Budapest University of Technology and Economics (BME) from 11 subjects to 15 subjects.

How the rating is calculated?

Every year QS analyses more than 2.5 thousand universities around the world. For each university and program, authers of the ranking analyze the key indicators reflecting different aspects of the university:

Academic reputation -survey of professionals (academics), if they consider to be excellent for research in the given area.

Employer reputation - survey of employers, if they consider the recruitment of university graduates is excellent opportunity to the firm.

Research citations – number of citations of research papers written by university publications.

H-index – measure of the productivity and impact of an academic or department at a university (calculated on base of the most cited papers and the number of citations).

International research network – index of international research network and level of sustainable research cooperation with other higher education institutions.

What are the greatest strengths of universities?

1) Internationalization.

The most important achievement of Hungarian universities is the increase in the number of foreign students. Since 2010/2011 to 2022/2023 the number of foreign students doubled from 15,090 to 36,175 and continues to increase. So this new professionals are the best advertisement of Hungarian Education in Europe and their home countries.

Substantial support to number of foreign students is provided by the promotion of education in Hungary abroad, the implementation of educational programs for the diaspora, the Hungarian educational foundation Tempus and other scholarship programs.

2) Active work with employers. Universities focus on working with teachers working in the world's leading companies. Basic departments of leading companies are organized on the basis of leading universities.

3) Each university uses its own strengths. Let's look at several of the most modern programs implemented by Hungarian universities.

Computer Science

Computer Science is one of the most modern disciplines, aimed at working with data and understanding the structure of modern computers.

BME is ranked among the top 300 universities in the world in subject university ranking. It has moved up more than 50 places in the Computer Science university rankings in 4 years. The strengths of the university are international cooperation (75.0 points), citation of scientific works (69.1 points) and respect from employers (65.6 points).

ELTE University has shown growth by more than 200 positions, and is gradually increasing its competencies in the field of Computer Sciences

Engineering & Technology

Only Hungarian university represented in the section - Budapest University of Technology and Economics (BME). It was founded more than 250 years ago, which grew in 4 years from 295th place to 243rd place in the world. The strengths of the university are high citation of scientific works (75.4 points), international cooperation (71.3 points), academic recognition (67.2 points) and high respect from employers (65.4 points).

The university's ranking is strongly supported by the increasing number of leading world company localizing high-tech production in Hungary.

Life Sciences & Medicine

Semmelweis University and University of Szeged significantly improved their position in world rankings.

QS consider Semmelweis University one of the best in Anatomy and Psychology (101-150 place in world ranking). Semmelweis University has 80.6 points on citations due to high quality of papers and new research laboratories that have been updated in recent years.

Social Sciences & Management

Among 2,289 universities, the best results are shown by Corvinus University of Budapest and Eötvös Loránd University (ELTE). The universities greatly strengthened their position through the last years - +12 places and +50 places respectively. Budapest University of Technology and Economics shows the strongest results in citations (69.6 points), and will probably show good dynamics in the future.

All universities have received high recognition both in the academic environment and among employers.

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