WURI Ranking 2021

On June 10, 2021, the results of the international ranking of World Universities with Real Impact, WURI (https://www.wuri.world/ ) were presented in an online conference. 

This innovative university ranking is organized by the Institute for Policy and Strategy on National Competitiveness (IPSNC) in South Korea and sponsored by four organizations:

- Hanseatic League of Universities (HLU) in the Netherlands;

- The Institute for Industrial Policy Studies (IPS) in Seoul, South Korea;

- The UN Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR) in Geneva, Switzerland;

- The Taylor Institute of Franklin University (FUS) Switzerland in Lugano.

An important part of this creative approach is to encourage and offer universities a platform where they can share their ideas and novel initiatives in higher education with the global academic community.

Franklin President, Dr. Gregory Warden was one of the speakers and invited to give a few introductory remarks. He seized the opportunity to emphasize what distinguishes Franklin University Switzerland from many others, not knowing what the results of the ranking would be and how much his words would then be echoed by Professor Hwy-Chang Moon’s presentation later on.

Prof. Moon, the founding director of the WURI Ranking, characterized the 5 categories of 2021 as follows:

Industrial Applications

rather than the traditional ways of counting research papers and lecture-type

teaching

Entrepreneurial Spirit and value-creating startups

rather than a traditional focus on the number of jobs filled

Ethical Value and social responsibility

rather than a focus on knowledge and skills just for material success

Student mobility and openness

rather than an independent yet closed system

Crisis management

thrive rather than just survive

The 2021 WURI Ranking consisted of 5 categories instead of 3 a year ago. Thanks to the support and contributions of some faculty, the Taylor Institute had prepared and submitted 6 proposals for this year’s ranking. 

In 2020, Franklin had been ranked 56th among the top 100 universities. A very good position for a small institution, considering the global competition. The expectation was therefore pretty high for this year. Franklin wanted to match at least last year’s ranking.

When Prof. Moon presented the results during the online conference on June 10, the participants learned that Franklin was ranked 41st among 300 universities around the world.

This very remarkable outcome was underscored by the results in the 5 categories on which the overall ranking is based. 

In each category, the best 50 were presented by Professor Moon and Franklin was among the top 30 in 3 categories and even among the top 5 in 2 of them:

- 5th in “Ethical Value” compared to 9th a year ago and

- 4th in Crisis Management(new category in the context COVID19)

- 22nd in “Industrial Application” compared to 28th in 2020

These results are even more impressive when comparing them with the ranking of other universities:

- The only other Swiss University in the WURI Ranking is the University of Basel. In 2020 it ranked ahead of Franklin at position 49. This year, Basel can only be found in the group of 100-200.

- The University of Copenhagen was ranked 19th in 2020, it is 39th this year.

- Similar situation for the University of Tokyo: 26th in 2020 and 49ththis year.

- And even an Ivy League school such as Yale University lost 5 ranks since last year: 38th.

The WURI Ranking and the leadership behind it are pointing to a new trajectory for higher education and its impact in order to address global challenges and help future leaders to successfully tackle them for the good of all. They deserveto be commended for their efforts.