Strong Standing in Best Global Universities Ranking

20 March 2019

International comparison of universities – Subject ranking: Heidelberg best in three subject areas Germany-wide

In the Best Global Universities Ranking, an international comparison of higher education institutions, Ruperto Carola placed second among universities in Germany. Internationally, Heidelberg University moved ahead five places compared to last year, now ranking 54th. A total of four German universities made the “Top 100” list. In addition to Heidelberg, they are Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich (46), the Technical University of Munich (80), and Berlin's Humboldt University (90). In the Europe-wide comparison, Heidelberg ranks 14th (previously 15). Selected subjects are also rated, with Heidelberg three times leading the German universities.

In the Subject Ranking, Ruperto Carola earned a “Top 100” international rating in nine academic disciplines, six of them in the top 50. In the space sciences – astronomy, astrophysics and related subjects – it ranks 22nd. This is Heidelberg University’s top rating internationally, putting it first in Germany. Heidelberg is also Germany’s top institution for neuroscience and behaviour (24th worldwide) and clinical medicine (35th worldwide). In the Germany-wide comparison, Heidelberg ranked second in three other disciplines: biology / biochemistry (40), molecular biology / genetics (35) and physics 33). Heidelberg is among Germany's top three universities for pharmacology / toxicology (78). 

Evaluation criteria include research reputation and publications. A total of 13 variously weighted indicators are used to generate the ranking, among them the university's global and regional research reputation and a number of factors specific to citations and publications. The Best Global Universities Ranking includes a total of 1,250 universities. They were evaluated on the basis of data from Clarivate Analytics. The ranking list is published by the American media company U.S. News.