Education and Science, Estonia, Good for Business, Latvia, Lithuania, Rating

For the ranking, QS analysed 1,620 universities and ranked 1,002 of them. The top three universities are the same as in last year -- the first is again the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, followed by Stanford University and Harvard University.

University of Tartu climbs 16 places in world university rankings

Quacquarelli Symonds (QS), an international company specializing in the analysis of higher education institutions around the world, compiles the university rankings using six indicators -- academic and employer reputation of the university, 40% and 10% of the total, respectively, faculty-to-student ratio, 20%, impact of published work and citations per academic staff member, 20%, and the ratio of international students and international staff, both 5% of the total.

In the new rankings, the University of Tartu has improved its ranking in four of the six indicators. The university's reputation among academic staff has improved particularly significantly, with a rise of 28 places on this indicator compared to the last year, from the 355th to 327th place. For the third year in a row, the university has improved its result in the ratio of international staff and students -- the rise compared to last year was by 6 and by 27 places, respectively. Faculty to student ratio has improved from the 130th to the 122nd position. QS uses this ratio as an indirect indicator of teaching quality.

Kristjan Vassil, vice rector for research of the University of Tartu, said that the university is very satisfied with the stable improvement in the rankings.

"The guiding principle of the university’s strategic plan for the next period is to move closer to the world’s 100 best universities. We are currently improving our position in the international rankings by 20 places on average yearly, but we can perceive that each rise is more difficult to achieve than the previous one. Keeping this rate shows that we have achieved excellent international visibility without compromising our role as Estonia's national university -- developing science, higher education and culture in the Estonian language and offering evidence-based support for governance to our state and society," Vassil said.

Vilnius University jumps in global university rating

Vilnius University has jumped 35 notches to the 423rd position in the annual global QS World University Rankings 2021.

Vytautas Magnus University's position remains unchanged as the university has shared the 801–1,000 positions since 2018.

Meanwhile, Kaunas University of Technology and Vilnius Gediminas Technical University saw their positions drop, with VGTU sharing places 651-700 this year, compared to places 591-600 last year, and KUT sharing places 801–1,000, compared to places 751-800 last year.

Other Lithuanian higher schools did not get into the 1,000 list.

Three Latvian universities listed in QS World University Rankings

Three universities from Latvia - Riga Stradins University (RSU), Riga Technical University (RTU) and the University of Latvia (LU) - are listed in the international ranking of world universities QS World University Rankings 2021.

RTU is the highest-ranked Latvian university, ranked in the 701-750 range, while RSU and LU share the 801st-1000th place.

The RSU has maintained its position in the 801st-1000th range for four years in a row, as Ieva Nora Gedina, RSU media relations manager, told LETA, adding that the RSU had been working its way up the ranking consistently during the four years.