RankingShanghai Ranking: Heidelberg is Best University in Germany
Press Release No. 94/2023
16 August 2023
Ruperto Carola takes 55th place worldwide and 16th in Europe
As the best university in Germany, Heidelberg University has topped the list at the national level in the latest Academic Ranking of World Universities. The so-called Shanghai Ranking for 2023 assigns it first place in Germany,16th in Europe and 55th at the international level. The ranking of the best universities worldwide primarily measures the academic influence of the respective institutions, which is why research indicators count most in the evaluation.
The Shanghai Ranking, published on 15 August 2023, is based on publications and citations in international scholarly journals, which each make up 20 percent of the assessment, as do the most frequently cited scientists, and recipients of the Nobel Prize or Fields Medal. Further indicators include, inter alia, the alumni who have likewise received one of these two prestigious awards.
The latest ranking sees a total of four German universities featuring in the Top 100, similar to last year. Apart from Heidelberg University, they are Technical University of Munich, Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich and the University of Bonn. In two other high-profile rankings – the QS World University Ranking 2023/2024 and the Times Higher Education (THE) Ranking 2022/2023 – Ruperto Carola numbers among the “Top Three” best universities in Germany. In the THE ranking it is among the “Top 50” worldwide in 43rd place.
Ruperto Carola can also show top placings in the Global Ranking of Academic Subjects, the Shanghai Subject Ranking, published last year. They include clinical medicine and public health, which are leaders in the German ranking of these academic subjects, along with medical technology and pharmacy in second place at the national level. They are among the best representatives of their subject worldwide, with clinical medicine internationally in 17th position and medical technology placed 14th.
With the subject group Life Sciences & Medicine, Heidelberg University likewise comes first at the national level in the QS World University Rankings by Subject 2023. Life Sciences also top the German list in a ranking by subject groups published in the Times Higher Education World University Ranking 2022/2023.