The QS ranking gives a high weighting to the area of Research and Discovery, which accounts for 50% of the overall assessment. In this area, the institution's reputation among academics around the world (through a separate QS survey) is monitored, as well as the proportion of citations per academic and R&D staff member at the institution. In particular, the reputation survey can counterbalance cultural differences and, thanks to peer review, provide humanities-oriented universities with substantial competitive potential.

In the QS World University Rankings, Masaryk University is ranked 408^th out of a total of 1,503 institutions in 2024. Among Czech universities, Masaryk University is ranked 2^nd behind Charles University. This year's achievement is an improvement of 223 places in the Employment Outcomes indicator to the 352nd position in the global comparison. FThere was also a further strengthening of the position in MU's strongest indicator, Sustainability, with a global ranking of 161st.

QS WUR indicators and their weightings

Indicator and Description	Weight
Academic Reputation Taken from the annual QS Academic Reputation Survey, designed to evaluate the perceptions of global academics on which institutions are demonstrating academic excellence. The score is based on responses to a survey of academics from the past 5 years.	30%
Citations per Faculty This ratio measures the average number of citations obtained per fakulty member, and is an estimate of the impact and quality of the scientific work produced by universities. This indicator is calculated using data from Scopus.	20%
Employer Reputation Taken from the annual QS Employer Reputation Survey, designed to evaluate the perceptions of global employers on which institutions are providing the most job-ready graduates. The score is based on responses to a survey of employers from the past 5 years.	15%
Employment Outcomes The ability of institutions to ensure a high level of employability for their graduates, while also nurturing future leaders who go on to make an impact in their respective fields.	5%
Faculty/Student Ratio Ratio of the overall number of students to the overall number of academic and R&D employees (normalised).	20%
International Faculty Proportion of faculty members who are international.	5%
International Research Network This indicator assesses the richness and diverzity of an institution's international research partnerships.	5%
International Students The score takes into account student internationalization (i.e. the proportion of international students among the total number of students).	5%
Sustainability The score for this component is taken from the analysis of the standalone QS Sustainability Ranking. It evaluates the social and environmental impact of universities as centres of education and research.	5%

QS Europe Regional Rankings

Since 2023, the QS Europe Rankings adds to the spectrum of Quacquarelli Symonds regional rankings. Other regions include Asia, Latin America & Carribean, Arab Region. From the prospective of the Czech Republic, QS Europe replaced former QS EECA rankings (last assessed in 2021). The regional remit for this ranking is those countries which are members of the Council of Europe. The input data, methodology and inclusion criteria correspond to those of the main QS WUR rankings. The ranking takes into account regional specificities by varying the weight and range of its indicators. It places particular emphasis on the internationalisation aspect (25% of the assessment), and evaluates scientific research activities with different indicators comparing to the QS WUR.

In the second edition of QS Europe, Masaryk University was ranked 143^rd. This year's ranking includes 685 European higher education institutions from 42 Council of Europe countries. The ETZ Zurich, Imperial College London and the University of Oxford appear at the top. Within the Czech Republic, 17 universities managed to get ranked, with Charles University taking the top position and Masaryk University in 2^nd place. In the Eastern Europe sub-region, MU ranked 4th behind the UK, University of Warsaw and Jagiellonian University.

Masaryk University excels in the QS Europe ranking thanks to its strong position in the indicators measuring Employer Reputation, International Research Network, International Student Diversity and Sustainability. It is also worth mentioning that MU scores the best among Czech universities in the indicator Papers per Faculty.

QS Subject Rankings

The same input data as for the QS WUR ranking are used to rank universities in the scientific subjects. As part of the most recent ranking published in April 2024, a total of 55 subjects and 5 broad subject areas were assessed: Arts & Humanities, Engineering & Technology, Life Sciences & Medicine, Natural Sciences, Social Sciences & Management.

QS rankings by subject use a leaner set of indicators comparing to QS WUR. Their weights are also distributed differently for each individual discipline to take into account the specifics of each discipline. The universities do not provide any input data for these rankings, the evidence is supplied by Elsevier (Scopus database of peer-reviewed publications), and the results of two reputation surveys also enter the rankings. The results are therefore based on 4–5 indicators: Reputation of the institution in the defined subject among peer academics, Reputation among employers, Citation rate of publications, H-index and for selected subjects also IRN (International Research Network) Index.

Masaryk University got ranked in 13 subjects in the QS Subject Rankings published in 2024 (sorted by best ranking):

• 201–240 Archaeology
• 251–300 Environmental Sciences
• 251–300 Linguistics
• 301–350 Agriculture & Forestry
• 301–350 Biological Sciences
• 301–350 Education
• 351–370 Law
• 401–450 Chemistry
• 401–450 Medicine
• 501–550 Computer Science & Information Systems
• 501–550 Economics & Econometrics
• 501–550 Mathematics
• 501–550 Physics & Astronomy

QS Sustainability Rankings

In 2022, QS introduced a new QS Sustainability Rankings. It aims to assess the actions universities are taking to address the world's largest environmental, social and governance challenges. In its comprehensive methodology, the ranking tracked 37 metrics on the very first year, and after a revision in 2023, it now tracks 53 metrics. The different qualitative and quantitative aspects of the assessment are grouped into 9 indicators (Environmental Sustainability, Environmental Education, Environmental Research, Equality, Knowledge Exchange, Impact of Education, Employability and Outcomes, Health and Wellbeing and Good Governance), and these are further aggregated into three categories: Environmental Impact, Social Impact and Governance. Data input includes scientific performance parameters according to the Scopus database, the results of two reputation surveys, evidence provided in the QS WUR questionnaire by the institutions themselves, national-level statistics (sourced via UN/UNESCO), or verification of the institution's membership among selected international initiatives and associations. The common core of the ranking are the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Masaryk University ranked 161^st out of 1,403 universities in the second year of the ranking. Within the Czech Republic, MU ranked the best among all universities.

MU achieved the greatest year-on-year improvement in the Knowledge Exchange indicator, which has a 10% impact on the overall ranking. Its score improved from 57 last year to 91.3 this year, making it the 87th highest ranked institution in the world in this particular indicator. The indicator monitors, for example, cooperation in publishing activities with institutions from developing countries, active offer of outreach programmes to a wider public, the level of citations in public documents directly related to relevant Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

A significant performance was achieved by MUNI in the new Good governance indicator, which monitors the ethical, environmental, transparent and democratic behaviour of the institution in terms of its regulations, structure, strategic documents and also from the perspective of employees (through the Academic Reputation Survey). The indicator has a weight of 10% in the overall assessment and MUNI scored 89.6 out of a possible 100, thus ranking 117^th in the world.

Also in other indicators the university did very well in this world competition, gaining a ranking in the top 200. In Equality with a weight of 12%, it scored 85.8 and ranked 173^rd in the world. This indicator tracks the institution's academic performance related to equality issues, the gender balance of the institution, the level of support provided on campus to disadvantaged groups, the incorporation of inclusion in university binding documents, and also involves the results of a reputation survey among academics and national-level statistics on the topic of equality. In the Environmental Research indicator, with a weighting of 13%, Masaryk University received a score of 87.4 and ranked 198^th in the world. This indicator tracks the institution's scientific performance related to specific SDGs, citation coverage rates in public documents, UNESCO national statistics on R&D expenditure, and also rewards the operation of a research centre in the field of environmental research.

Among Czech universities, 11 institutions made it into the QS Sustainability Rankings in 2023, which is 7 more than in the previous year. Second behind MUNI is Charles University with 172^nd world position, third is the Czech University of Life Science in Prague at 323^rd position, fourth is Palacký University Olomouc at 422^nd position, followed by ČVUT, JČU, VŠB-TUO, VŠCHT, VUT and MENDELU. The first places in this international ranking were taken by the University of Toronto (Canada), the University of California, Berkeley (USA) and the University of Manchester (UK).

International Rankings