KTH Royal Institute of Technology gets 44th in Engineering and Technology in QS World University Rankings

In the 2023 Rankings by Subject released this week, the QS World University Rankings placed KTH Royal Institute of Technology 44th in Engineering and Technology worldwide—or 14th among universities in Europe. In the Natural Sciences, KTH ranks 101st worldwide and 36th in Europe.

The overall standing is lower than last year’s, though in several key subject areas the university continues to rank higher.

KTH Deputy President Mikael Lindström says that one thing is clear. “The competition is getting tougher in these rankings because there are a lot more great universities in the world,” Lindström says. “That in itself is a positive trend worth noting. Millions of students around the world have access to excellent higher education today.”

Produced annually by QS, the subject rankings are based on scores in academic reputation, employer reputation, citations, h-index (a measure of both productivity and reach of publications) and international research collaborations. These include specific subject rankings and two overall rankings that apply to KTH, namely, Engineering & Technology and Natural Sciences.

KTH ranked higher in both of these lists last year: 28th for Engineering and Technology in 2022; and the university ranked 78th for Natural Sciences in 2022.

Nevertheless, a deeper dive into the rankings show improved positions in specific subject areas worldwide, namely: Mathematics (2022, 59th/2023, 48th), Chemistry (2022, 104th, 2023, 87th), Mechanical Engineering (2022, 26th/2023, 23rd), Material Science (2022, 27th/2023, 23rd), Chemical Engineering (2022, 85th/2023, 58th) and Biological Sciences (2022, 201-250/2023, 151-200).

Lindström says these subjects’ have steadily been climbing the rankings for the past several years. “One of the trends we see is that their scores on citations have increased from year to year,” he says. “That’s an important factor because it also indicates that our research is having an impact in very important areas.”