Centre for Political Research

Leuven university in European ‘Excellence Group Political Science’

The German Centrum für Hochschulentwicklung (CHE) has made an Excellence Ranking for the domain ‘Political Science’. The ranking provides information about the best research teams and doctoral and master training programs in a specific area of science. Criteria used are scientific publications and citations, and the participation in international research and training programs.

Only 52 European universities have been included in the ‘Excellence Group Political Science’, and we are delighted that the University of Leuven has been included in the list. For the Low Countries, only the universities of Amsterdam, Leiden, Leuven and Louvain have been included in this excellence group. The CHE report notes especially that Leuven university excells in the number of international citations to our research output, and in schemes for international mobility of researchers and students.

All information on this new ranking of political science departments can be found on:
http://www.excellenceranking.org/eusid/EUSID

About the Centre for Political Research

The research of the Center for Political Research focuses on the central institutions and processes of decision-making, inherent in contemporary democracies. Therefore, four major domains are central in the research-strategy of the Section: elections, political parties and social organisations, parliaments and governments. In the analyses and publications both structural and cultural determinants of the functioning of democracies and its patterns of decision-making are taken into consideration, as well as recent dynamic developments along with the analysis of their historic roots. In this respect the Belgian political system is a privileged domain of research, especially from the perspective of comparative research.