Position in international rankings
The University of Groningen is proud to number among the world’s top universities. It has a ‘Top 100’ ranking in the ARWU Shanghai Ranking and the THE World University Rankings, among others. The following is a summary of the University of Groningen’s position in various international rankings. This summary, which is by no means exhaustive, is limited to a number of highly acclaimed international rankings. However, quality has many different aspects (teaching, research, societal impact, etc.), is highly dependent on geographic and disciplinary contexts and is not necessarily the same across all parts of the University (faculties, institutes and degree programmes).
Academic Ranking of World Universities (#73, 2025)
The Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU Shanghai Ranking) is a global ‘Top 500’ ranking that is published annually by ShanghaiRanking Consultancy. This ranking uses a weighting of 67% for Web of Science data (highly cited researchers [22%], publications in Nature and Science [22%], and citations [22%]), while the remaining 33% is based on prizes (Nobel Prizes and Field Medals). The University of Groningen is currently in 73th place in this ranking. Aside from this impressive score for the University as a whole, the University of Groningen also ranks among the global ‘Top 100’ in a number of specific academic fields: Automation & control (28), Business Administration (31), Sociology (32), Communication (35), Medical Technology (43), Dentistry & Oral Sciences (44), Psychology (49), Clinical Medicine (51-75), Chemistry (76-100), Biological Sciences (76-100), Law (76-100), Management (76-100).
> ARWU
THE World University Rankings (#82, 2026)
The British magazine Times Higher Education publishes a ranking of universities throughout the world. In addition to its achievements in the areas of teaching and research, the University’s international reputation plays a part in determining its ranking. The ranking is based on education (29.5%), research environment (including research reputation) (29%), research quality (30%), internationalization (7.5%) and industry (including patents) (4%). The University of Groningen is currently in 82nd place in this ranking. In the Subject rankings, the University of Groningen ranked in the ‘Top 100’ in the following academic fields featured here: Psychology (41), Social sciences (51), Business and economics (56), Education studies (63), Medical and health (63), Arts and humanities (66), Law (73), Physical sciences (80).
> THE World University Rankings
U.S. News ‘Best Global Universities Ranking’ (#75, 2025-2026)
The American magazine U.S. News also publishes a global ranking of universities. This is based on data from Clarivate Analytics, which publishes the Web of Science citation database. This ranking uses a weighting of 75% for Web of Science data (research performance) and 25% for the reputation among academics. The University of Groningen is currently in 75th place in this ranking.
> U.S. News 'Best Global Universities Ranking'
UI GreenMetric World University Ranking (#6, 2025)
The UI GreenMetric World University Ranking was launched by the Universitas Indonesia (UI) to focus awareness on sustainability in university policy-making. Universities are ranked on the basis of self-reported data in the areas of Setting and Infrastructure, Energy and Climate Change, Waste, Water, Transportation, and Education and Research. The University of Groningen ranked 6th in 2025.
> UI GreenMetric Ranking of World Universities