Four of Germany’s higher education institutions have been ranked among the 100 best in the world according to the newest annual assessment by Chinese company ShanghaiRanking Consultancy.
Unlike the QS and Times University rankings, which focus on student life and the experience of studying, the annual ShanghaiRanking judges universities based their on contributions to the academic world, i.e. the number of papers published or cited in journals and the number of accolades alumni have received.
To create the 2023 study, the firm ShanghaiRanking Consultancy analysed 2.500 universities from around the world. Each institution was ranked by six key indicators which the firm uses to determine the quality of teaching provided. These include:
Universities were then given scores out of 100 in each of these categories, with a weighted average of all six used to place each institution on the overall list.
As is the case with many university rankings, the top spots on the ShanghaiRanking for 2023 were dominated by institutions in the United Kingdom and the United States. As was the case in 2022, and indeed for the 22nd time since the ranking was created, Harvard University found itself in first place with a perfect score of 100. The rest of the top 10 was filled with the usual suspects:
The ranking claimed Harvard was home to the best academic departments in 15 different subjects, ranging from biomedical engineering to political science. The company placed Paris-Saclay University in 15th, the highest place in the ranking which was awarded to a university outside of the UK and US.
Unsurprisingly, Germany’s most ancient and esteemed university, Heidelberg, was the best-ranked among those included in the study from the federal republic. Coming in 54th place, Heidelberg was followed closely by the Technical University of Munich and the University of Munich, which came in joint 57th. The last of the four to make it into the top 100 was Bonn, which along with the previous three is considered one of Germany’s 11 “Universities of Excellence”.
Heidelberg received particular commendations for its Medical Technology and Clinical Medicine departments, which were respectively awarded 14th and 17th place in the firm’s separate but related Global Ranking of Academic Subjects, which helps determine the wider ShanghaiRanking. All of the Heidelberg departments which were included in this ranking were connected to STEM subjects.
Overall, these are the 10 German universities that faired best in the ShanghaiRanking:
For more information about how the ranking was calculated, check out the ShanghaiConsultancy website.
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