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On 9 May 2017, the Centre for Higher Education (CHE) published the results of its latest university ranking. Each year, reassessment takes place of one third of a total of 39 subjects. This year, the legal and economics subjects were updated. The results of the ranking, which assesses 300 participating universities and is considered one of the most influential rankings in the German-speaking areas, have been published in the ZEIT Studienführer 2017/18 and can be accessed online at: www.zeit.de/che-ranking

On the national level, the University of Konstanz’s Department of Economics places in the top group for ten of 22 assessment criteria. Top results in core categories like feasibility of the study programme, courses offered and examinations reflect the outstanding quality of the department’s study programmes. Both the bachelor’s and the master’s programmes offer excellent overall conditions for completing a degree within reasonable time, the ranking confirms. The international orientation of the study programmes - especially of the master’s programmes - and the support available to study abroad and new students is rated particularly highly.

Economics research in Konstanz makes for equally strong results: success in acquiring third-party funding and the number of international publications per researcher earn the department a place in the top group nationally. However, the ranking also reveals that the department hosts a comparatively small number of doctoral researchers per professor, resulting in a placement in the bottom group for this performance indicator. It is worth considering, however, that fewer doctoral candidates make for an excellent staff-student ratio. As a small university, the University of Konstanz places particular value on providing individual and close supervision to its doctoral researchers and students.

The Department of Law sits in the middle range for most of the relevant assessment criteria (nine out of 16). The results indicate that new students are particularly happy with the support they received upon beginning their study programme. Like the Department of Economics, the Department of Law accepts fewer than average doctoral researchers per professor, which again speaks to a fantastic staff-student ratio. The student survey response rate in the Department of Law, upon which parts of the CHE ranking are based, was very low at 15.1 % (only 159 out of 1055 contacted students responded).

Facts:                                                                

• Ranking: CHE University Ranking of the Centre for Higher Education (CHE)
• Published in: ZEIT Studienführer 2017/2018 and online at www.zeit.de/che-ranking
• Scope: 39 subjects in total at 300 participating universities and institutions of higher education in Germany
• The following subjects were reassessed: business administration, law, social work, political economy, business informatics, business administration and engineering, business law, economics
• Response rate in the University of Konstanz’s Department of Economics: 21.6 % (167 out of 771 contacted students)
• Response rate in the University of Konstanz’s Department of Law: 15.1 % (159 out of 1055 contacted students)