Eight Czech universities appear in the prestigious top 1,000 university ranking

Eight Czech universities were among the 1,000 best universities in the world in this year's ranking, one more than last year. 

The Shanghai ARWU (Academic Ranking of World Universities) ranking is one of the most prestigious international rankings of universities. It focuses primarily on the scientific and research level of institutions and uses six indicators to evaluate world universities. 

Among some of the criteria are the number of the most cited scientists in the Highly Cited Researchers database and the number of Nobel Prize winners associated with a given institution.

This year, the ranking selected 1,000 of the best schools from 2,500 institutions around the world.

The Czech Republic has eight representatives in the ranking. According to ARWU, the best Czech university is Charles University, which finished tied for 301-400th place, moving down from 201-300th place. Some of the best-ranked subjects at Charles University are mathematics, physics, ecology, metallurgical engineering, and economics.

Meanwhile, Brno's Masaryk University, which last year finished in a split rank of 601-700, climbed up to the 401-500th spot in the world and the second place in the Czech Republic.

Palacký University in Olomouc finished in 701-800th place, Czech University of Technology (ČVUT) and Czech University of Life Sciences (ČZU) in Prague finished in 801-900th place.

The University of Technology (VUT) in Brno, the Technical University of Ostrava (VŠB-TUO), and the University of South Bohemia in České Budějovice were ranked in 901–1000th place.

The top ten list of the best universities is dominated by American and British institutions, with Harvard University ranking 1st for the twenty-second time in a row. 

The first three places were occupied by American schools: Harvard University is followed by Stanford University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). In fourth place is the British University of Cambridge, followed by the University of California at Berkeley, Princeton University, Oxford University, and Columbia University in New York.

Universities from France, Switzerland, Denmark, and Sweden also appeared in the top 50.