Lower rankings for Austrian universities

Austrian universities have received lower rankings in this year’s "Times Higher Education World University Rankings" released today (Thurs).

Vienna University fell from 115th last year to 132nd place this year among the top 200 world universities listed in the rankings.

Vienna Technical University and Innsbruck University, both of which were in the top 200 last year, dropped out of the list.

Harvard University in the USA ranked first again this year, and Germany and Switzerland had ten and seven universities, respectively, in the top 200, with many ranked higher this year than last.

Vienna University Rector Georg Winckler said after the rankings were published that Austria badly needed an excellence in education programme similar to Germany’s and the quality of research and teaching at Austrian universities was in dire need of improvement.

He claimed universities in Germany and Switzerland that had risen in the rankings this year reflected positive changes in education policy in those countries.

Austrian politicians, Winckler continued, needed to address the state of higher education in the country rather than content themselves with talk about access to universities and university fees.

He stressed he feared Vienna University would fall again in the rankings next year as the abolition of fees for most of its students would increase their number from 70,000 to 80,000. He added its budget was "insufficient."

But People’s Party (ÖVP) Science Minister Johannes Hahn said it was a mistake to over-estimate the importance of the rankings.

Hahn said: "The reality is that the abolition of student fees has resulted in a run on Austrian universities, and we are beginning the new semester with a significant growth in the number of their students."

The Austrian parliament abolished the fees in September 2008.
www.austriantimes.at
(星島日報報道 10月8)英國《泰晤士報高等教育特刊》今日公布全球最佳大學排名，本港有三所大學打入首五十位，當中香港大學    較去年跳升兩級至二十四位，全亞洲排名僅次於東京    大學，另外科技大學    和中文大學則分列三十五位和四十六位，而今年打入首一百位的亞洲和歐洲大學比去年增加共五所，而北美大學則減少六所，反映亞、歐的學術水平有上升趨勢。
今次《泰晤士報高等教育特刊》進行大學排名調查，訪問了九千二百多名學者，以及三千二百多名僱主，要求他們選出心目中最理想的大學，受訪人數比去年分別增加四成和四成七。
今年頭十名依然由英、美大學壟斷，美國    哈佛    大學再次蟬聯全球最佳大學，英國劍橋    大學和美國耶魯大學    互換排名，分列第二和第三位，而英國倫敦    大學學院亦躍升三級，力壓倫敦帝國學院和牛津    大學排全球第四，另外，美國普林斯頓大學重新打入十大而排名第八位。
亞洲方面，今年有十六所大學打入排行榜，日本    東京大學今年微跌三位至第二十二位，但仍能力保「亞洲第一」的地位，而港大則以兩位之差排行二十四位而跟隨其後。本港另有兩所大學全球排行首五十位，其中科技大學今年排名上升至三十五位，而中文大學則下跌至四十六位。

至於內地院校方面，清華大學    今年「大躍進」上升七位至排行四十九位，力壓排行微跌至五十二位的北京大學    。本港另有兩所大學榜上打入首二百位，其中城市大學    今年躍升二十三位排行第一百二十四位，而理工大學    則排第一百九十五位。

對於排名上升，港大校長徐立之    表示，今次排名反映港大在絕大部分學科範疇中，均取得顯著進步，反映港大的努力獲認同。他同時透露，去年港大收到來自七十四個國家的學生申請入讀本科課程，港大只在其中一成的國家招生，相信排名對海外學生有參考作用。

科大校長陳繁昌亦對排名上升表示高興，並表示「不敢奢求樣樣最好，但永不放棄追求樣樣更好，無論科大排名如何，都會 不斷尋求進步。」城大校長郭位則指，排名上升是全校師生的努力，「城大排名近年來穩步上升，顯示城大要致力全面發揮潛能，全方位提升課程、教學和研究質 素，實現大學教育的理想。」

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維也納大學排132,港大排24. 維也納真失禮. 除咗音樂咁有冇人黎維也納留學嘅呢?要喺度留學其實有啲難,因為要識德文.問過啲朋友點解冇英文,佢話呢度學費好平又唔想咁多外國人黎分簿資源,所以有門檻.
咁啱今日新聞講,因為學位唔夠,越黎越多德國瑞士人黎奧地利讀大學.

btw上星期都仲有廿七八度,今個星期轉涼,今日得幾度.睇類似『瞬間看地球』嘅瞬間看奧地利,西部山區已經落雪喇.冬天話黎就黎