Four Austrian universities among top 500 in Shanghai ranking

In the current Academic Ranking of World Universities, compiled annually by Shanghai Jiaotong University, American universities are once again leading: eight of the world's top ten universities according to the ranking are in the United States. This time, four universities from Austria made it into the top 500, slightly fewer than in previous years. The best domestic university is the University of Vienna, which, like last year, is listed in the 101-150 range.

Most US universities in the top 10

The US universities Harvard, Stanford and MIT traditionally top the list of the best. The best European university is again the University of Cambridge (Great Britain) in fourth place, followed by Berkeley, and as the second British university in the top ten, the University of Oxford is in sixth place, while the US universities of Princeton and California Institute of Technology (Caltech), Columbia and the University of Chicago also make the top 10. The best university in continental Europe is again the University of Paris-Saclay (12th), followed by ETH Zurich (21st). According to the ARWU ranking, the best German universities are the University of Munich (43rd), the Technical University (TU) Munich (47th) and the University of Heidelberg (50th).

Four Austrian universities represented in the top 500

In Austria, this time, in addition to the University of Vienna, the Medical University of Vienna, the University of Innsbruck (both ranked 201-300) and the TU Vienna (301-400) are also included in the top 500. Innsbruck has risen to the group of hundreds (from 101st onwards, it is ranked only in increments of 50, and from 201st onwards in increments of 100). In previous years, Austria was usually represented by six to seven universities in the top 500, in 2023 there are five.

The University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences (BUKU) did not make it into the top 500 this time and appears to be in the 601-700th place in 2024 (2023: 401-500). Otherwise, there were only a few changes: the Medical University of Graz moved up one group and, like the Medical University of Innsbruck, is now in the 501-600th place, while the University of Graz moved up one group to 601-700. TU Graz, the University of Linz and the University of Salzburg remain in the 801-900 ranking group.

What is the Shanghai ranking?

The Shanghai Ranking is strongly research-based, using primarily publicly available databases. Forty percent of the assessment is based on the quality of scientists at the institution (assessed by the number of Nobel Prize and Fields Medal winners employed there as well as the number of highly cited researchers) and research output (measured by publications in the journals Science and Nature as well as citations). Ten percent is based on the quality of training (measured by the number of Nobel Prize and Fields Medal winners among alumni) and the productivity of each researcher. At the time, more than 1,800 universities participated in the ranking.

(Source: ABA)