Ruperto Carola confirms its excellent standing among the “top three” best universities in Germany in the current QS World University Ranking 2024/2025. Heidelberg University places third Germany-wide behind Munich’s Technical University and Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich. With an improvement of three places compared to the previous year, Heidelberg University ranks 84th internationally, and 28th in the European-wide comparison. Besides Heidelberg and the two Munich universities, Freie Universität Berlin, placing 97th, and RWTH Aachen University, placing 99th, are among the “top 100” in the QS Ranking. This means that five of the 48 German universities featured in the ranking are among the 100 best in the world.

This year’s ranking is based on a methodology, that was updated last year. Instead of just six, nine indicators with different weightings have been taken into account since 2023/2024. A university’s reputation makes for 45 percent of the overall ranking, comprising academic reputation (30 percent) and employer reputation (15 percent). Other criteria are faculty-student ratio and citations per faculty. The share of international scholars and international students is likewise taken into account. The new indicators introduced in the previous year's ranking are sustainability, international research networks, and employment outcomes. 

The current QS World University Ranking includes over 1,500 universities worldwide.