RWTH Classed as the Best German University in IT Ranking
In the recently published international computer sciences portal Guide2Research university ranking, RWTH Aachen University was placed first among all German universities.
Scoring a total of 1,152 points, RWTH is clearly well ahead of the technical universities in Munich (1,033 points) and Berlin (897 points). A total of 41 German universities made it into the ranking list, which includes around 650 of the best universities in computer science worldwide. RWTH ranks 54th overall and is thus higher placed than certain renowned institutions such as Yale University or California Institute of Technology (Caltech). US universities predominantly top the worldwide ranking.
The ranking is based on the h-index of the leading scientists at the individual institutes and universities, which then adds up to produce the total score of each institution. The h-index was developed by physicist Jorge Hirsch and sees the number of publications by an author placed in relation to the frequency with which the works are cited. This is used as a measure for evaluating publication performance worldwide. Only scientists with an h-index of at least 40 are included in the ranking.
Van der Aalst and Ney in the German Top 10
A university ranking was published for the first time in 2020. Previously, there had only been annual rankings of the best scientists, also including employees of universities and non-university research institutions, who were ranked according to their h-index. Two RWTH professors made it into the German Top 10: Professor Wil van der Aalst from the Chair of Process and Data Science was placed second, while Professor Hermann Ney from the Chair of Computer Science 6 took seventh place. Taking only scientists from universities into account, the two professors even hold places 1 and 4 respectively.
The 257 best German computer scientists were included in the ranking, with the criterion here again an h-index of over 40. A total of 19 RWTH researchers made it into the list of most published persons. Besides the two professors already mentioned, five more from RWTH made it into the German Top 50: Leif Kobbelt, Gerhard Woeginger, Stefan Decker, Matthias Jarke, and Joost-Pieter Katoen.
Wil van der Aalst is ranked 16th worldwide and is the highest-ranking university scientist outside North America and the United Kingdom. Born in the Netherlands, van der Aalst came to RWTH Aachen University in 2018 on an Alexander von Humboldt Professorship, and is considered the key founder of process mining. In 2011, he published his first book, and in the summer of 2019, he initiated the world's first scientific congress on process mining, which was held in Aachen.
Source: Press and Communications