USask climbs higher than ever in Times Higher Education rankings

THE World University Rankings measure the overall performance of higher learning institutions based on 17 key indicators across five pillars of teaching, research environment, research quality, industry, and international outlook, per the THE website.

USask leapt more than 100 spots in the rankings to enter the 351-400 tier this year, after reaching an overall rank in the 501-600 tier of universities in the prior year’s rankings.

In addition to the remarkable rise in the rankings, the placement in the 351-400 tier is the highest USask has achieved in these rankings to date.

It marks the second time this year that USask has reached its best-ever placement on an international ranking scale, as USask jumped 128 positions to reach a previously unprecedented placement of 345th in the 2024 QS World University Rankings announced in June.

“These incredible results are a testament to USask’s unwavering commitment to excellence in research, scholarly and artistic works,” said USask Vice-President Research Dr. Baljit Singh (PhD). “To achieve an unprecedented high placement in an international ranking for the second time this year reflects USask’s ongoing commitment to be a university recognized for its contributions on the world stage.”

Of the five pillars of the THE rankings, USask greatly improved its rank in the research environment, research quality, and industry areas.

USask scored highly in the “research excellence” indicator – which measures the amount of “world-leading researchers” in an institution by examining research publications and how often they are cited. USask also scored favourably in the “research influence” indicator, which acts as a “broader look at excellence and considers the importance of citing publications.”

USask  jumped to 109th in the world in the industry pillar, which includes measures in the area of industry income as well as the number of patents that cite a university’s research.

“As an institution, we are so pleased to see USask’s significant rise in the THE World University Rankings to reach our university’s best-ever performance,” said USask Provost and Vice-President Academic Dr. Airini (PhD). “This achievement reflects our bold ambition to be the university the world needs, for Saskatchewan and from Saskatchewan. We are a world-class university that aims to set the standard for learning, research, scholarly, and artistic works, and community engagement.”

The 2024 THE World University Rankings include 1,904 universities from around the world in the placement system, which is an increase from 1,799 last year.