Universitas Gadjah Mada
Faculty of Economics and Business

The Quacquarelli Symonds World University Rankings (QS WUR) by Subject 2021 was officially released on Wednesday (3/3) placing Gadjah Mada University (UGM) in the world's top 350 rankings based on an assessment of its 3 fields of study. The 3 fields of study are Social Sciences & Management, Arts & Humanities, and Engineering & Technology. In this QS WUR by Subject 2021, the field of social sciences & management is UGM's best field of study among the 3 others by being ranked 261 in the world. This field of study has increased its ranking from 266 in the QS WUR by Subject 2020. The Engineering & Technology field of study is in the 335th rank, successfully increasing from the 355th rank. Meanwhile, the Arts & Humanities field of study was ranked 350th.

As reported from the official UGM website at ugm.ac.id, the ranking of QS WUR by Subject is based on 4 main criteria, namely academic reputation, the reputation of graduates, number of publication citations, and h-index or benchmarks of productivity and the impact of published publications by lecturers and researchers. Assessment of the academic reputation and reputation of graduates criteria is carried out through a survey of university partners. Meanwhile, the assessment of citation and h-index values are measured based on publications indexed in the Scopus database.

From a total of 5 study fields and 38 sub-fields of study at UGM that received the assessment, the Faculty of Economics and Business (FEB) UGM should be proud because all the 3 subfields of the study received satisfactory ratings. In more detail, the Business & Management sub-field of study is the best in Indonesia and is ranked in the top 250 in the world. This top position has been successfully maintained for two consecutive years. The Accounting & Finance sub-field of study is in the second place in Indonesia and is in the top 250 in the world. Similarly, the Economics & Econometrics sub-field of study is ranked 2nd in Indonesia and is in the world's top 350.

This achievement is the result of the hard and smart work of all the family of FEB UGM which is supported by various parties, including the Government, Universities, Alumni, and Partners, as stated by Prof. Mahfud Sholihin, Ph.D., the Vice Dean for Academic and Student Affairs FEB UGM. He is very grateful to all those who have helped and trusted FEB UGM. "The result is a blessing and we should be grateful for it. Even though ranking is not our final goal, this shows the recognition from various stakeholders of FEB UGM for the excellence of the 3 subfields that we have. Our task is to maintain that trust and make continuous improvements so that tomorrow will be better than today.", he added.

In the future, FEB UGM will always improve its performance, especially during the pandemic which seems demanding to always improve the innovation of the learning process. According to Prof. Mahfud, all aspects of Tridharma can still be improved by FEB UGM. "Regarding research and publication, FEB has designed a system so that the faculty members are more motivated to research topics that are more relevant to the needs of our society and publish their works in high-quality journals. Regarding community service, FEB UGM has programmed community services that have more impact on society," he explained. Prof Mahfud believes that the improvement in the quality of Tridharma will have a positive effect on the scores that are indicators of QS WUR, both H-Index Citations, Citations per Paper, Academic Reputation, and Employer Reputation.

The assessment by QS WUR by Subject was also carried out simultaneously at various foreign universities. Participants from developed countries such as the United States, France, and the UK with universities that excel in academics, research, and publication dominate the highest rankings. Even so, the results of UGM's ranking in QS WUR 2021 provide evidence that UGM is a world-class university that can compete with universities from various other countries. In addition, this assessment also shows that FEB UGM is a faculty that excels at the national level and can very well compete at the global level.

Reportage: Kirana Lalita Pristy/Sony Budiarso.