Kantar Public considers a reputational index greater than 75 to be high. Eight Swedish institutions of higher education, one of them Linköping University, achieve this value.
The list is headed by research and technology-focussed institutions, and the oldest university in Sweden. The regional university colleges do not enjoy a high reputation.
Linköping University is noteworthy in the list this year as the institution of higher education that has had the greatest increase in reputation from last year, from 67 to 75.
Reputation linked to information
The basis for a high reputation is principally well-functioning operations. But it also requires an ability to communicate effectively the success and advantages of the institution. Kantar Public points out that knowledge about the institutions is low among the general public, and that there is a strong correlation between knowledge and reputation. And it’s important to have a good reputation among the general public: it opens channels to several of the groups that the institutions are eager to reach, such as future students and employees, and decision-makers. Around a third of people are reached by the image of an institution presented in traditional media. At the same time, the report claims that the message that the institutions themselves spread through editorial and social media has a stronger effect on reputation than traditional media.
“We can see that the strategic work with communication we have carried out in recent years has led to a continuous increase in activity in all our channels, but it’s obvious that many factors play a role in such a large increase. I’m proud that we have helped to increase our visibility and our reputation”, says Mariethe Larsson, director of communications. “We work systematically to spread the word about our research successes, to demonstrate that we are an attractive workplace, and that students here can address contemporary challenges in a high-class study environment.”
The survey was carried out in July 2021, when 4,935 people in the age range 18-79 years were interviewed. Each interviewee was given the opportunity to evaluate more than one institution of higher education, which means that a total of 13,246 evaluations were made.
Ten in top, 2021
- Chalmers University of Technology: 87
- Royal Institute of Technology: 84
- Lund University: 83
- Uppsala University: 81
- Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences: 78
- Stockholm School of Economics: 78
- LTH Faculty of Engineering: 77
- Linköping University: 75
- Umeå University: 67
- Swedish Defence University: 67
Average for all institutions of higher education: 64
More information about the survey (in Swedish) is available at the Sifo website
Translated by George Farrants
