In the annual global university ranking "QS World University Rankings 2026" Vilnius University (VU) dropped seven places and ended up in 446th place.
Despite the drop in the rating, VU retained its leading position among Lithuanian higher education institutions. Last year, the university ranked 439th, and the year before that, it ranked 473rd.
At that time, Kaunas University of Technology (KTU) rose slightly in the ranking and shares second place with Vytautas Magnus University (VMU) among Lithuanian higher education institutions.
In total, five higher education institutions in the country were included in the university ranking.
KTU, which ranked between 751–760 of the world's universities last year, has moved up slightly this year and is ranked between 741–750. VMU, which also held this position last year, received the same rating.
Vilnius Gediminas Technical University also maintained the same positions in the rankings as last year - it is ranked between positions 851–900 - and Mykolas Romeris University - 1001–1200.
According to a VU statement, the university particularly stands out for its graduate employability rate – it ranks 93rd in the world, the highest result ever achieved by an institution in this category. Last year, VU ranked 105th.
This indicator reflects the institutions' ability to ensure a high level of employability of graduates and their influence in their professional fields.
In compiling the QS World University Rankings, higher education institutions are evaluated according to a total of eight criteria: academic reputation, reputation among employers, citation rate of research papers, student-faculty ratio in departments, share of foreign professors, university's international research network, number of foreign students and sustainability.
This year's QS rankings evaluated 8467 higher education institutions, but only 1501 were included in the rankings. Of these, 112 universities are ranked for the first time.
The top positions in this year's ranking were occupied by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Imperial College London, Stanford, Oxford, Harvard, and Cambridge universities.
The author is Karolina Ambrazaitytė
