Strong Standing in Best Global Universities Ranking

2 November 2017

International comparison of universities – Subject ranking: Heidelberg best in two subjects areas Germany-wide

In the recently published Best Global Universities Ranking, Ruperto Carola placed second among universities in Germany. Internationally, Heidelberg University moved ahead nine places compared to last year, now ranking 59th. A total of four German universities made the "Top 100" list. In addition to Heidelberg, they are Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich (40), the Technical University of Munich (80), and Berlin's Humboldt University (87). In the Europe-wide comparison, Heidelberg ranks 15th. Selected subjects are also rated, with Heidelberg twice leading the German universities.

In the Subject Ranking, Ruperto Carola earned a "Top 100" international rating in eleven academic disciplines, seven of them in the top 50. Heidelberg led the other German universities in space science – astronomy, astrophysics and related subjects (26) – as well as clinical medicine (37). In the Germany-wide comparison, Ruperto Carola ranked second in six other disciplines: biology/biochemistry, microbiology, molecular biology/genetics, neuroscience and behaviour, physics, social sciences and public health. Heidelberg is among Germany's top three universities for pharmacology/toxicology.  

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.