University of Vaasa ranks number one in the fitness test of Finnish Universities
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The University of Vaasa was the best performer in the latest fitness test of Finnish universities. This year, the test looked at how universities have been progressing in their publishing activities.
The fitness test is part of the annual "Suomen Korkeakoulut 2023" report (available only in Finnish) published by Koulutuksen tutkimuslaitos (Finnish Institute for Educational Research). All thirteen Finnish universities were included in the evaluation, with the University of Vaasa sharing first place with the University of Jyväskylä. The test is based on publicly available statistics from Vipunen.fi.
The fitness test compared universities across four areas: growth in the number of publications, publications per researcher (measured by both progress and efficiency), and the trend in total university funding per publication between 2019 and 2023. Universities were ranked based on their relative progress.
The University of Vaasa was the best performer in three of the four areas. It ranked first in the percentage increase in publication volumes and in publications per researcher from 2019 to 2023. Additionally, the University of Vaasa performed best in the category that measured the trend in total university funding per publication in euros between 2019 and 2023, with 2019 as the baseline year.
According to the test, the number of publications from the University of Vaasa rose by 64% from 2019 to 2023. During the same period, publications per researcher increased by 24%, while many other universities saw a decline.
At the same time, the University of Vaasa’s total funding per publication in euros dropped by 21%. This drop is mainly due to the increase in the number of publications.
In terms of efficiency, measured by publications per researcher, Vaasa was the fourth-best in 2023, with 2.1 publications per researcher, up from 1.7 in 2019.
The University of Vaasa also came out on top in last year’s fitness test, which was a broader review that looked at not only publications but also trends in student numbers, student-to-staff ratios, graduate numbers, and overall university costs.
In addition to the fitness test, the report also compared how Finnish universities performed in four different international university rankings.
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