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Position in international rankings

University of Groningen

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 (#76, 2023)

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 76th 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 (15), Businnes Administration (31), Communication (36), Education (36), Sociology (40), Psychology (41), Pharmacy & Pharmaceutical sciences (42), Chemistry, Clinical Medicine, Dentistry & Oral Sciences, Economics Geography, Public Health (51-75) Atmospheric Science, Biological Sciences, Management, Nursing and Political Sciences (76-100).
> ARWU

THE World University Rankings (#79, 2024)

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. This ranking uses a weighting of 38.5% for Scopus data (citations [30%], productivity [6%] and international cooperation [2.5%]), 33% for reputation and 28.5% for self-reported figures (numbers of staff, students and PhDs awarded [17.5%] and income [11%]). The University of Groningen is currently in 79th 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 (62), Law (72), Arts and Humanities (72), Business and Economics (83), Physical Sciences (76), Life Sciences (77) and Social sciences (68).
> THE World University Rankings

QS World University Rankings (#139, 2024)

The QS World University Rankings is another ranking of higher education institutions throughout the world. This ranking uses a weighting of 50% for reputation and 20% for Scopus data (citations), while the remaining 30% is based on self-reported figures (numbers of staff and students) [20%] and internationalization [10%]. The 2024 edition gives the University of Groningen a ranking of 139 in a list of over 900 universities throughout the world.
> QS World University Rankings

U.S. News ‘Best Global Universities Ranking’ (#88, 2023)

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 88th place in this ranking. The university also features in the global ‘Top 100’ in the academic fields of Cardiac and cardiovascular systems (9), Psychiatry/psychology (36), Radiology, Nuclear Medicine and Medical Imaging (36), Arts and humanities (39), Space science (39), Economics and business (50), Endocrinology and Metabolism (52), Clinical medicine (60), Education and Educational Research (60), Infectious diseases (68), Molecular biology and genetics (70), Surgery (73), Pharmacology and toxicology (75), Oncology (84), Social sciences and public health (87), Gastroenterology and Hepatology (88), Biology and biochemistry (94) en Public, Environmental and Occupational Health (99).
> U.S. News 'Best Global Universities Ranking'

NTU Ranking (#74, 2023)

Each year, the National Taiwan University publishes the Performance Ranking of Scientific Papers for World Universities, formerly known as the HEEACT Ranking. This is a ‘Top 500’ of the world’s universities, based on 8 productivity and citation impact indicators derived from Web of Science data. The University of Groningen was 74th in the world in the 2023 ranking.
> NTU Ranking

University Ranking by Academic Performance (#74, 2022-2023)

University Ranking by Academic Performance (URAP) is a Web of Science (WoS)-based ranking of the 2000 most-published universities, drawn up by the Middle East Technical University in Turkey. An institution’s position in this ranking is based on its absolute number of WoS publications and citations (52%), on relative citation impact (33%) and on the number of WoS publications with foreign co-authors (15%). Averaged across all 61 academic fields featured here, the University of Groningen ranks 74th (2022-2023).
> University Ranking by Academic Performance

Webometrics (#81, 2023)

The Webometrics is compiled on the basis of measurements made at six-monthly intervals by the Spanish Centro Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC). Webometrics assesses university websites. Here, a university’s performance is measured on the basis of website activities and results, and on the impact and relevance of such activities and results. According to this measurement, the University of Groningen ranks 81st in the world and 13th in Europe.
> Webometrics  

UI GreenMetric World University Ranking (#4, 2023)

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 4th in 2023.
> UI GreenMetric Ranking of World Universities

CWUR World University Rankings (#108, 2023)

The Center for World University Rankings (CWUR) is a consulting organization for higher education based in the United Arab Emirates. CWUR published its first world ranking of higher education institutions in 2012. This ranking has a reputation for assigning weightings to indicators other than the traditional ‘publications’ and ‘citations’. For instance, it also features ‘quality of education’ and ‘alumni employment’. Furthermore, it does not rely on surveys conducted or data provided by universities themselves. The ranking is based on 7 indicators, calculated on the basis of data from independent public sources. These sources include research publications and research citations according to Clarivate Analytics (40%), major international prizes awarded to alumni (25%) and academic staff (10%), and CEO positions held by alumni in companies listed in the Forbes Global 2000 (25%). In 2023, the University of Groningen ranked 108th.
> CWUR World University Rankings

U-Multirank (2022)

U-Multirank (UMR) is technically not a ranking but an online tool used to compare higher education institutions from 92 different countries. They are compared on the basis of (self-selectable selections of) 40 indicators within 5 different dimensions (Teaching and Learning, Research, Knowledge transfer, International Orientation and Regional Engagement). UMR was developed by a consortium consisting of the Center for Higher Education Policy Studies (CHEPS) in Twente, the Centre for Higher Education (CHE) in Germany and the Centre for Science and Technology Studies (CWTS) in Leiden. When the scores on all 40 indicators are summed, the University of Groningen achieved  6th place among 1224 medium or very large public institutions offering bachelor's, master's and PhD programs. The UG ranked 1st in the Netherlands.
> U-Multirank

Last modified:14 March 2024 10.51 a.m.
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