UZH to No Longer Provide Data for THE Ranking

The benefits and influence of rankings on the world of academia have long been the subject of controversial debate. Rankings generally focus on measurable output, which can have unintended consequences, for example leading universities to concentrate on increasing the number of publications instead of improving the quality of their content. Although rankings purport to comprehensively measure universities’ diverse achievements in teaching and research, they cannot do so as they reduce indicators to a score and focus on quantitative criteria.

As a result of these conflicting approaches, UZH has decided it will no longer provide data for the THE ranking.

The University of Zurich has actively campaigned for many years, both nationally and internationally, for a culture of openness in academia. Open Science stands for open exchange, transparency and reproducibility, and promotes high-quality, efficient and impactful research. Moreover, UZH is a signatory of the international Agreement on Reforming Research Assessment coordinated by Science Europe, the European University Association and other organizations, in which the emphasis is on quality over quantity. The UZH leadership team is convinced that scientific quality should be the decisive factor in all research policy decisions.