Again this year, Utrecht University is the best research university in the Netherlands according to the prestigious annual ‘Academic Ranking of World Universities’ by the University of Shanghai and published on its website today (15 August local time). Utrecht University has been the best ranking Dutch university since the ARWU ranking began in 2003. This year, Utrecht University shared 12th place in Europe and 53rd place worldwide.
Leading ranking system
Worldwide, the ARWU (or Shanghai) ranking is the leading system for assessing and comparing the quality of research universities. Of the more than 1,000 universities considered each year, the best 500 are included in the ARWU ranking.
Key criteria
The key assessment criteria include the number of times university staff are published or cited in scientific journals (e.g. Nature and Science) and the number of distinctions (e.g. Nobel Prizes and Field Medals) awarded to university staff and graduates. Utrecht University scores particularly well on the citation indices and in terms of the number of Nature and Science publications.
Top of the league
Harvard University in the United States continues to lead the ARWU ranking. Second, third and fourth place are also held by American institutes: Stanford, MIT and Berkeley. The highest-ranked European university comes in at number five: Cambridge in the UK.
Further information
See the website of the Academic Ranking of World Universities for the full ranking (website may be overloaded from time to time): http://www.shanghairanking.com.
Wietske de Lange, Utrecht University spokesperson, +31 (0)30 253 4073, w.delange@uu.nl.
Utrecht University Press Communication +31 (0)30 253 3550, perscommunicatie@uu.nl.