Ranking Shanghai Ranking of Academic Subjects: Outstanding Placings for Universität Heidelberg

13 December 2024

Clinical medicine internationally in 17th position – medical technology ranks 16th worldwide

With medical technology and clinical medicine, Heidelberg University is among the best representatives of the medical sciences worldwide. In the 2024 Global Ranking of Academic Subjects, medical technology ranks 16th internationally, which means second place in Germany. Clinical medicine moves up one place internationally to 17th position and continues to hold the top position in Germany. The biological sciences are once again at the top of the list in Germany and, as in the previous year, have improved in the international comparison. After a jump of five places, they are now ranked 38th worldwide.

Human biological sciences in Heidelberg are among the 100 best representatives of this subject internationally. Like the biological sciences, they are classed under life sciences and place in the 51 to 75 ranking group internationally, taking third place in Germany. Among the “top 100” subjects in the natural sciences are, for the first time, earth sciences (76 to 100 internationally, fourth in Germany), as well as physics, which also comes in the 76 to 100 ranking group internationally and places second in the national comparison. For the first time included in the ranking is the subject remote sensing (76 to 100), which is classed in the engineering group of subjects. 

The Subject Ranking appeared in November 2024 and is part of the Academic Ranking of World Universities, also called the Shanghai Ranking. It covers a total of five academic areas to which the ranked subjects are assigned. Compared to the previous year, the methodology has been changed and four new indicators have been added to the previous five, which include, above all, publication data as well as prizes and awards won at a university. The new indicators include, for instance, the number of highly cited researchers or the number of editors of international journals. The individual indicators are weighted differently depending on the subject and are used across five different categories.

In the overall Shanghai Ranking published in August this year, Heidelberg University took third place in Germany, ranking 14th in Europe and 50th internationally.