Successful Placement in Rankings
Ruperto Carola is again one of the top three universities in Germany: The 2020/2021 Times Higher Education World University Rankings place Heidelberg University third after the two universities in Munich. Internationally it advances two positions and ranks 42th, making it one of the world's “Top 50” – one of only three German universities to earn that distinction, along with Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich (32nd) and the Technical University of Munich (41rd). In the Europe-wide comparison, Heidelberg places 12th in the THE Rankings (13th in the previous year).
For the fifth year in a row, the THE Ranking by subject area placed Medicine at Heidelberg University in first place. At the international level, Heidelberg University is placed 36th in this field, referred to as “Clinical, Pre-Clinical and Health”. In a Germany-wide comparison, Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin and Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München ranked second and third respectively, with 43rd (Charité) and 45th (LMU) place internationally. Heidelberg’s Life Sciences and Physical Sciences also receive outstanding placings.
In the field of Life Sciences, Heidelberg University once again ranks second in Germany. Internationally, the Life Sciences are ranked 35th, an improvement of two places compared with the previous year. As in the previous year, Physical Sciences ranked third nationwide, rising internationally by four places to 28. Heidelberg’s Arts and Humanities are listed 33rd internationally and fifth nationally. In the general Times Higher Education World University Ranking Heidelberg ranks 42nd and is thus one of the Top 50 universities worldwide. Alongside LMU and the Technical University of Munich, it is one of the best three universities in Germany.
In the Academic Ranking of World Universities, also known as the "Shanghai Rankings", Ruperto Carola maintained its position among the top three German universities in 2020. Heidelberg placed third after Ludwig Maximilian University Munich (51st) and the Technical University of Munich (54th). Ruperto Carola places 57th internationally and 18th among universities in Europe. At 87th, the University of Bonn is the fourth German university in the Shanghai Ranking's "Top 100".
The Times Higher Education (THE) World University Rankings, published in September 2020, is based on various indicators in five areas of performance, with teaching, research and citations assigned a 30 per cent weighting each. Other areas analysed include internationalisation (worth 7.5 per cent) and industry income (worth 2.5 per cent). The criteria of ranking by subject correspond to those of the overall ranking, but are weighted differently for each subject group. The weighting is based on different indicators in the five performance areas of teaching, research, citations, international outlook and income from industry. The Shanghai Ranking especially measures an institution’s scientific influence, making research a key factor in the evaluation. Publications and citations in international scientific journals, most frequently cited researchers, and staff winning Nobel Prizes and Fields Medals each make up 20% of the final score. Alumni recipients of one of these two outstanding awards make up another 10%. Research output based on the size of the institution counts for 10% of the score.
