Rankings
Rīga Stradiņš University (RSU) participates in global university rankings to gain international recognition and identify key areas for improvement by benchmarking our performance against other higher education institutions in Latvia, the Baltic states, Europe, and the world.
At the same time, we recognise that while rankings offer valuable insights, their methodologies do not fully capture the diverse ways in which universities contribute to society. To complement our engagement with rankings and highlight our unique strengths not reflected by standard ranking metrics, we have proudly joined the More Than Our Rank initiative, launched by the International Network of Research Management Societies (INORMS). As one of its first 30 signatories, we reaffirm our commitment to a more comprehensive view of institutional excellence and encourage other institutions to follow suit.
RSU in world university rankings
- QS World University Rankings
- In the QS World University Rankings 2026, RSU is ranked 1001–1200 globally overall and 46–55 among universities specialising in two or fewer faculty areas.
- RSU has achieved its highest scores in the International Student Diversity and International Students Ratio indicators, ranking 102nd and 111th worldwide respectively — the best performance among all universities in the Baltic states
QS evaluates nearly 8,500 universities worldwide, but only the top 1,501 universities are included in the QS World University Rankings. RSU has consistently remained among the top 1,200 since its debut in the rankings in the 2019 edition.
This ranking evaluates university performance across nine indicators. Academic and Employer Reputation metrics, which are assessed through a global survey of the respective societal groups, jointly carry the most weight (45 %). Two further metrics, Citations per Faculty (15 %) and International Research Network (5 %), are derived from Scopus-indexed publication data. In particular, the 2026 rankings consider research output from 2019–2023 with citations from 2019–2024. Normalised by faculty area, all four of these indicators tend to favour broad-based institutions, which inherently puts RSU, with its narrow focus on medicine and social sciences, at a notable disadvantage. It is therefore meaningful to compare RSU’s performance against other ‘specialist’ universities focusing on two or fewer faculty areas.
The ranking also considers faculty-to-student ratio (10 %), the proportions of international faculty and students (10 % combined), sustainability (5 %), and Employer Outcomes (5 %), which reflects our graduates’ excellence on a global and national level.
Ranking methodology continues to evolve, making direct year-on-year comparisons challenging. The most notable change since RSU’s debut has been the inclusion of three new indicators (Employer Outcomes, Sustainability, International Research Network) in the 2024 ranking cycle. In the 2026 rankings, QS has refined its score normalisation criteria and additionally assessed International Student Diversity, although this indicator remains unweighted. RSU is proud to have the 102nd most diverse student population globally.
Latest QS World University Rankings
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- QS Europe Region Ranking
- RSU is ranked 377th in the QS World University Rankings: Europe 2025 and 128th among universities in Northern Europe
- Among universities specialising in two or fewer faculty areas, RSU is ranked 16th in Europe and 5th in Northern Europe
- RSU has performed best in the International Student Diversity and Outbound Exchange Student Ratio indicators, ranking in the top 10 percentile in Europe and 1st among Latvian universities in both indicators
The QS Europe Region Rankings include nearly 700 institutions and assess similar aspects of university operations as the QS World University Rankings.
The QS Europe Region Rankings also assign a slightly lower overall weight to citation metrics and include citations per paper (10 %) in addition to citations per faculty (5 %). This change in methodology reduces the influence of size-normalised metrics and gives a relative advantage to institutions larger than RSU.
- QS World University Rankings by Subject
- RSU has secured a spot in the QS World University Rankings by Subject: Medicine for the fifth consecutive year, having been the first Latvian university to debut in this ranking back in 2021
- In the most recent Medicine ranking, RSU is ranked 651–700 and is the only university in the Baltics to have avoided a drop in the ranking this year
- RSU has achieved its highest score in the Employer Reputation indicator, outperforming 56 % of universities globally, and recorded the best results in Latvia for both Academic and Employer Reputation indicators
QS World University Rankings by Subject cover a total of 55 disciplines, grouped into five broad subject areas. Each ranking evaluates between 580 and 2,800 universities annually, but only the top 20-850 in each subject area are included. In Medicine, 850 universities were ranked in 2025 out of the 1,455 that met the minimum publication and reputation criteria for evaluation.
To be included in the QS World University Rankings by Subject, universities have to demonstrate globally competitive results in four or five metrics. In Medicine, these include Academic (40 %) and Employer Reputation (10 %) that are based on field-specific reputation surveys, and three publication-related indicators derived from Scopus data: Citations per Paper (20 %), H-Index (20 %), and International Research Network (10 %).
Information on RSU’s results in the QS rankings
Latest results for Medicine in the QS World University Rankings by Subject
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- Times Higher Education (THE) World University Rankings
- In the 2026 edition of the THE World University Rankings, RSU is placed in the 1201–1500 band, an improvement from the 1501+ band in the 2025 rankings
- This rise in the rankings was primarily driven by progress in the Research Quality pillar, where RSU achieved a score of 39.1 (up from 31 in 2025) and climbed more than 100 places relative to other universities
- RSU also improved its scores in the Teaching, Research Environment, and Industry Impact pillars
- RSU’s strongest result remains the International Outlook pillar, where it ranks 3rd in the Baltics, and places just outside the top 500 worldwide
The THE World University Rankings include nearly 2,200 higher education institutions worldwide, with a further 900 participating in the evaluation process. RSU has maintained a consistent presence in this ranking since 2021.
This ranking primarily rewards research-intensive institutions, dedicating 59 % of the overall score to research-related metrics. These include research reputation, funding, productivity, and several statistical measures of citation impact. Unlike the QS rankings, this methodology adjusts not only for university size, but also for its subject specialisation, ensuring that institutions with a narrower focus are not directly disadvantaged.
The second most influential pillar relates to teaching quality (29.5 %), assessed through purchasing power parity (PPP)-adjusted institutional income, academic staff-to-student ratios, the number of awarded PhDs relative to bachelor’s degrees, and global teaching reputation among academics.
The International Outlook indicator (7.5 %) reflects the proportions of international students and staff, as well as the share of publications co-authored with international collaborators. RSU’s success in this indicator highlights the university's strong international collaboration, diversity, and global engagement.
Finally, the Industry indicator (4 %) considers the PPP-adjusted research income from industry, and the number of patents that cite the university’s research.
This methodology has been in place since the 2024 ranking edition. Compared to the previous approach, it has introduced more robust and diversified citation metrics, reducing the disproportionate influence of a small number of highly cited publications.
The 2026 rankings are based on Scopus-indexed research output 2020–2024 with citations from 2020–2025.
The latest THE World University Rankings results
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- THE World University Rankings by Subject
- RSU is included in the THE World University Ranking by Subject 2025: Medical and Health, ranking 801-1000 worldwide
- In the Medical and Health ranking, RSU has performed strongest in the International Outlook pillar, with the best result among Baltic universities and a position just outside the top 200 globally in this category.
These subject-specific rankings use a methodology similar to the overall World University Rankings but focus on performance within one of 11 academic disciplines. Indicator weightings are adjusted to reflect the unique priorities of each academic field.
The Clinical and Health ranking highlights universities at the forefront of medicine, dentistry, and other healthcare fields with a particular emphasis on research intensity. Compared to the overall World University Rankings, research-related metrics carry slightly increased (61.7 % of the overall score) while the emphasis on teaching-related indicators is reduced (26.8 %). The International Outlook and Industry pillars contribute 7.5 % and 4 % of the score respectively.
Latest THE World University Rankings by Subject: Medical and Health
Other THE World University Rankings by Subject
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- European Higher Education Sector Observatory (EHESO)
EHESO is a new information platform developed by the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Education, Youth, Sport, and Culture. It aims to enable easy comparison of institutions and national policies across the European higher education sector.
A redesigned Benchmarking Tool for higher education institutions is expected to launch in 2025. It will include statistical data on RSU’s study programmes, academic and research staff, students, graduates, and finances, along with information on institutional strategies for digital education, the green transition, and public outreach.
The initiative has evolved partly from U-Multirank, a multidimensional ranking tool that assessed universities across 46 indicators in five broad areas of activity, using a performance scale from A (very good) to E (weak). Before U-Multirank was discontinued in 2023, RSU received the following notable evaluations:
- Research: grades A or B in 7 indicators out of 11, with strong results in female authorship and open access publications
- Regional engagement: A or B in 4 indicators out of 6, performing particularly well in the proportions of bachelor’s and master’s graduates employed in the region
- International orientation: A or B in 4 indicators out of 5, with excellent results in international joint publications and recruitment of international academic staff
- Teaching and learning: A or B in 4 out of 7 indicators, with standout performance in digital education investment
- Knowledge transfer: A or B in 2 out of 7 indicators, scoring highly for publications cited in patents and development of graduate companies
RSU in sustainability rankings
- QS Sustainability Rankings
- In the 2026 ranking, RSU is placed at 1201–1250, having climbed 250 positions year on year
- RSU has achieved its highest score of 83.1 points in the Good Governance lens, outperforming 76 % of universities worldwide in this metric
- RSU has also ranked among the top 1000 institutions in the Equality and Environmental Sustainability lenses, scoring 67.2 and 43.8 points respectively
The QS World University Rankings: Sustainability features institutions with a strong research track record on the environmental and social dimensions of sustainability.
The ranking evaluates eligible institutions across three categories. The Environmental Impact category (45 % of the overall score) measures the academic and policy contributions of environmental research, the availability of environmental study programmes, sustainable energy and procurement practices, and institutional commitment to achieving net zero emissions. As a university primarily focused on social sciences and medicine, RSU cannot expect to achieve a higher score in this environmental research-intensive category. Nevertheless, we are actively integrating environmentally sustainable practices into our operations to strengthen our performance in other aspects covered by this category.
The Social Impact category (45 %) assesses graduate employability and considers efforts to promote gender equality, partnerships with industry, campus healthcare services, and initiatives to share knowledge through research and community outreach. Finally, the Good Governance category (10 %) recognises transparency in decision-making and financial reporting, student representation across university governance structures, adherence to high ethical standards, and commitment to open access publishing.
RSU first entered these rankings in the 2025 edition, published at the end of 2024.
- THE Impact Rankings
- RSU is ranked 301-400 in the THE Impact Rankings 2025, showing the 2nd best overall result among Baltic universities
- RSU has achieved its best ranking of 99 globally and 1st in the Baltics in SDG3: Good Health and Well-being
- RSU has placed among the best 50 % universities in six SDG rankings overall, including SDG5: Gender Equality (ranked 201-300), SDG8: Decent Work and Economic Growth (301-400), and SDG16: Peace, Justice, and Strong Institutions (301-400)
The methodology of THE Impact Rankings has been developed based on the United Nations’ 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Universities are ranked within each SDG category, and the overall ranking is calculated from their performance in SDG17 (Partnerships for the Goals), which carries a 22 % weighting, along with the three other SDGs in which they perform best, each weighted at 26 %.
In each SDG category, universities are evaluated using a dedicated set of criteria, covering research, teaching, management, and outreach activities. For example, in the SDG3 (Good Health and Well-being) category, 34.6 % of the score is determined by the proportion of graduates in health professions, while relevant academic publications, paper views, and citations in clinical guidance jointly comprise 27 % of the score. Further points are awarded for existence of a smoke-free policy (8 %), collaborations with healthcare institutions (7 %), health outreach programmes (7 %), mental health support (7 %), sexual and reproductive health services (7 %), and shared sports facilities (2.4 %).
Universities get ranked in all SDG categories they submit data for. RSU first participated in these rankings in 2020 and, in the most recent ranking, submitted data across eight SDG categories.
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