Utrecht University retains highest Dutch position in Shanghai rankings

Utrecht University has the highest Dutch position in the annual Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU) for 14 years.  Today, August 15, ShanghaiRanking Consultancy published this prestigious ranking online. This year, Utrecht University has a shared 22nd place in Europe and a shared 65th position worldwide.

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

Last year, Utrecht University was placed 56th. The striking lower position this year has to do with a new calculation on which the list is based. 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 Fields Medals) awarded to university staff and graduates.

Top of the league

Harvard University in the United States continues to lead the ARWU ranking. Second and third place are also held by American institutes: Stanford and Berkeley. The highest-ranked European university comes in at number four: Cambridge in the UK.