TEHRAN - The 20th edition of the QS World University Rankings (2024) has placed seven Iranian universities among the world’s top institutes, compared with six universities in 2023.The Rankings features 1,500 institutions across 104 locations and is the only ranking of its kind to emphasize employability and sustainability.Sharif University of Technology, University of Tehran, Amirkabir University of Technology, Iran University of Science and Technology, Shiraz University, Shahid Beheshti University (SBU), and Ferdowsi University of Mashhad are the top Iranian universities.This year, the largest-ever methodological enhancement has been implemented, introducing three new metrics: Sustainability, Employment Outcomes, and International Research Network.The results draw on the analysis of 17.5m academic papers and the expert opinions of over 240,000 academic faculty and employers.The number of top Iranian universities and research institutes in the Essential Science Indicators (ESI) database has increased from 112 last year (March 2022-March 2023) to 115 this year, the Islamic World Science Citation Center (ISC) has reported.The number of top Iranian universities and research institutes in this database has increased from 112 last year to 115 this year.Iran's top universities and research institutes are present in 19 subject areas, and the largest number is in the engineering subject area with 59 universities and research institutes.The number of institutions in the fields of clinical medicine was 57, chemistry 50, material sciences 25, agricultural sciences 23, pharmacology and toxicology 19, plant and animal sciences 16, environment/ecology 15, social sciences, biology and biochemistry, and computer sciences 13 each.Meanwhile, the number of institutions in the fields of neuroscience and behavior was 7, geology 6, physics and immunology 5 each, molecular biology and genetics 4, mathematics and microbiology 2 each, and psychiatry/psychology 1.Reviewing the status of universities worldwide shows that the number of Iranian universities has increased in nearly all subject rankings.At the beginning of its formation, rating systems provided a comprehensive view of institutions and evaluated them from all aspects and as a whole.

But in the past few years, many of these systems evaluate and rank institutions in various scientific fields.This new ranking method has emerged to meet the needs of users who seek to know the position of an institution in a special field.Some of these systems evaluate broad scientific fields such as humanities and social sciences, technical and engineering, and medicine, and others measure special fields such as chemistry, mathematics, artificial intelligence, anthropology, and nursing in institutions.The Times Higher Education (THE) World University Rankings 2023 has placed 65 Iranian universities among the top Asian institutions.The Times Higher Education Asia University Rankings 2023 use the same 13 performance indicators as the Times Higher Education World University Rankings, but they are recalibrated to reflect the attributes of Asia’s institutions.The universities are judged across all their core missions – teaching, research, knowledge transfer, and international outlook – to provide the most comprehensive and balanced comparisons available.The Sharif University of Technology is ranked first in the country and 64th in Asia.

The position of two Iranian institutions is also mentioned as a reporter.In the 2023 edition of the Times Higher Education’s Asian University Ranking System, the names of 928 institutions from 36 Asian countries are included in the final list.

In the previous edition of this ranking system, 58 universities from Iran were among the top institutions in Asia, IRNA reported.MG