BUET, DU cut sorry figures in QS rankings by subjects

Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET) and University of Dhaka (DU) have made big falls in the Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) World University Rankings by Subject 2023 compared to the rankings of the last year.

The ranking, published on Wednesday, cover a total of 54 disciplines, grouped into five broad subject areas comprising Arts & Humanities, Engineering and Technology, Life Sciences & Medicine, Natural Sciences and Social Sciences and Management.

BUET slid to 335th in Engineering and Technology field from their position at 185th in previous year’s ranking. Their overall score declined to 64.4 out of 100 from the previous year’s 72.5.  Dhaka University was 332rd in this field previous year but failed to make it to the list of 530 universities of the world this year. 14 universities from India and six from Pakistan were featured in this faculty.

Dhaka University was bracketed among 451-500th in Social Sciences and Management faculty this time, a steep fall from its position of 203rd in previous year’s ranking. Two other universities-- North South University and BRAC University—were ranked at 298 and 451-500 last year. Both institutions failed to get a place in this year’s ranking.

In the previous year’s ranking, DU was featured at 378th in Arts & Humanities faculty but did not find a place this time around.

No Bangladeshi institutes were found in Life Sciences & Medicine and Natural Sciences faculties too.

Apart from several disciplines of DU and BUET, some disciplines of Chittagong University of Engineering and Technology (CUET), Bangladesh Agriculture University, NSU and BRAC University were featured among a total of 54 disciplines covered by the QS.

BUET’s petroleum engineering discipline ranked the best among the Bangladeshi universities as it was bracketed 51-100 in global ranking of this subject. CUET was ranked between 101-150 in this programme.

In Electrical and Electronics Engineering discipline, BUET retained its previous year’s position of 301-350.

BUET’s Mechanical Engineering discipline has been ranked between 351-400, an improved position compared to its previous year’s rank of 401-450.

BUET, DU and NSU were featured in Computer Science and Information System discipline but all saw decline in their rank compared to the previous year. BUET was ranked between 401-450, from last year’s 301-350; DU ranked at 551-600, down from last year’s 451-500 and NSU at 651-680, a fall from the 601-650 in the ranking of 2022.

Under the 9 subjects of Life Sciences and Medicine faculty, three universities—BAU, BRAC University and DU—were featured in two subjects.

BAU was ranked between 301-350 in agriculture and forestry discipline. BRAC University and DU both were at 601-650 in Medicine discipline. DU was ranked between 551-600 in this discipline last year.

A total of 16 subjects were evaluated under Social Sciences and Management faculty and only three departments from two Bangladeshi universities were featured.

DU’s Accounting and Finance department was ranked between 301-330, a slip from the previous year’s 251-300.

In the ranking of Business and Management Studies subject, DU retained its position at 351-400 and NSU slipped to 401-450 from the last year’s 351-400.

DU was ranked 401-450 in Economics and Econometrics discipline. They were bracketed in the same place in last year’s ranking.  

The recently launched ranking is the biggest ever ranking of QS yet, featuring more than 15,700 different academic programmes from 1594 institutions – 103 of which are new, say the QS authorities on its website.

Academic programmes are ranked over five such as academic reputation, employer reputation, research citations per paper, H-index and International Research Network (by broad faculty area). 

Ben Sowter, QS senior vice president, said, “This subject ranking is the largest ever and provides an ever-deeper understanding of how rankings success is achieved. Sustained targeted investment and international collaboration are consistently pillars on which progress can be made.”