Times Higher Education (THE) World University Rankings

THE's ranking focuses primarily on the level of science and research at the university. The results of the research and education reputation surveys (together 33%) and bibliometric indicators (together 30%) have the greatest weight on the ranking. Data for the bibliometric indicators used to get drawn from the Web of Science database until 2014, but since 2015 they are being drawn from the Scopus database. Since 2023, the Citation impact as single bibliometric indicator has been expanded with further indicators such as Research strength, Research excellence and Research influence.

In the latest THE World University Rankings, published in 2023, MU ranked in 601^st to 800^th position. A total of 1,904 universities were ranked. In the national comparison, Masaryk University ranked 2nd behind the Charles University, followed by Palacký University Olomouc and Czech University of Life Sciences Prague.

THE WUR rankings indicators and weights

Subject rankings

In addition to the global rankings, THE also compiles rankings of universities in 11 focus areas: Arts & humanities, Business & economics, Clinical & health, Computer science, Education, Engineering, Law, Life sciences, Physical sciences, Psychology and Social sciences. These subject rankings are based on the same indicators as the main THE WUR rankings, but their weight in the final score differs, including across subjects.

THE Subject rRankings have been compiled since 2010 and initially presented only the top 50, later the top 100 institutions in any given field. For the first time MU appeared in THE subject tables in 2017, when the published positions were expanded to the top 500 institutions for some of the subjects. Masaryk University ranked in 301–400^th position in Arts & humanities, Clinical & health, and Life sciences and 401–500^th in Physical sciences. In the subject rankings, apart from MU, also UK and UPOL appeared among Czech schools that time. In 2018, the number of published positions was further expanded. Since, Masaryk University gets ranked in all relevant subjects - appearing in a total of 10 out of 11 subject rankings compiled by THE.

As for the latest subject rankings published in 2023 MU ranks appear as follows:

201–250 - Law
251–300 - Arts & humanities
401–500 - Psychology
401–500 - Social sciences
501–600 - Clinical & health
501–600 - Education
501–600 - Life sciences
501–600 - Physical sciences
601–800 - Business & economics
601–800 - Computer science

THE Impact rankings

Since 2019, THE has also been competing in THE Impact Rankings, which aims to map the implementation of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by higher education institutions. Masaryk University joined the rankings for the first time in 2021, when it got overall rank of 401^st-600^th among 1,115 universities worldwide. The same position was also givven in the latest ranking in 2024, with ever increasing competition - 401^st-600^th position among 1,963 universities worldwide. A total of 9 Czech public universities and 1 private university appear in the sixth edition of THE Impact. In the local comparison, Masaryk University is ranked behind Charles University and in a shared position with Czech University of Life Sciences and Palacký University Olomouc.

In the current edition of the ranking, MU is involved in 11 out of the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals. Its best ranking in 2024 was in SDG 16 Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions, ranking 95th globally. Goal 16 tracks publications on the topic, the extent of the university's cooperation with state actors, the application of democratic principles on campus, and also measures the proportion of the university's graduates with a law degree.

Other very strong MU areas include SDG 11 Sustainable cities and communities and SDG 12 Responsible consumption and production, ranked 101^st-200^th. In addition to scholarly performance on the topic, SDG 11 also assesses the institution's commitment to supporting the arts and cultural heritage, including financial expenditures on cultural, sporting and artistic activities; it recognizes the institution's support for sustainable community development; staff support for sustainable transportation and housing; and last but not least, the institution's sustainable construction and infrastructure development. SDG 12 is largely focused on waste management, including waste reduction and ethical purchasing, and also monitors scientific performance on the topic of responsible production and consumption.

In the mandatory SDG 17 Partnerships for the goals, MU dropped to rank 401-600 in this year's evaluation. SDG 17 assesses the extent to which the University contributes to national or cross-sectoral dialogue on sustainable development issues, collaborates with local or national NGOs and research institutions in this area, offers courses to students on environmental topics or engages in measurement and data collection on environmental and sustainable development issues, and regularly publishes its progress toward the SDGs in the form of a report.