International rankings

Worldwide, there are approximately 18,000 universities. In international rankings, universities from all over the world are compared with one another in terms of research, education, and reputation.

Limitations of rankings

Dutch and especially international students consult university rankings in order to make a well-informed study choice. Although there are differences in emphasis, taken together the major international rankings provide an indication of a university’s performance. It is important to realize that international rankings should not be regarded as the definitive measure of quality. A university’s performance is difficult to capture in a single number.

How does Radboud University perform?

According to international rankings, Radboud University belongs to the leading group of universities worldwide. The results of the most important rankings are included in the ranking dashboard below. This dashboard allows you to compare the performance of Radboud University with that of other universities around the world.

To the rankings dashboard

 2020202120222023202420252026
ARWU / Shanghai Ranking105101102123127130 
QS Ranking217214220232222272279
THE Ranking128136139139140143154
CWTS Leiden Ranking10696101978097 
CWTS Leiden Ranking Open Edition----89122 
QS Sustainability ranking       133

 

ARWU/Shanghai ranking (Academic Ranking World Universities Ranking)

The Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU/Shanghai ranking) is compiled by Shanghai Jiao Tong University and primarily focuses on the assessment of leading scholars (Nobel Prize winners and highly cited researchers) and the number of publications (total number of publications and the number of papers in the Nature and Science publications).

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QS ranking (Quacquarelli Symonds Ranking)

The QS World University Ranking is compiled by the Quacquarelli Symonds research organisation. Organisations are assessed on nine topics: Academic Reputation (30%), Employer Reputation (15%), Faculty Student Ratio (10%), Citations per Faculty (20%), International Faculty (5%), International Students (5%), Employment Outcomes (5%), International Research Network (5%) and Sustainability (5%). The staff and student data for this ranking is supplied by the universities.

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THE ranking (Times Higher Education Ranking)

The THE World University Ranking is published by the Times Higher Education Supplement and compiled by Scopus. This ranking measures a wide range of variables, including education, research and income. One third of the ranking is determined by the reputation score (obtained from a survey carried out among academics), while the remaining two thirds are determined by the number of citations and several different indicators, such as staff/student ratios, income and international staff and students. Each year, universities provide data on the numbers of students, staff and income.

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CWTS Leiden Ranking

The Centre for Science and Technology Studies (CWTS) of Leiden University has developed a ranking based on bibliometric methods. This ranking focuses entirely on the scientific performance of universities. Universities that have at least 800 Web of Science indexed scientific publications in the past four years are ranked. The ranking consists of several indicators, which allow the performance of the universities to be assessed/ranked from different perspectives, such as the number of publications (P), the number of publications that, compared to other publications in the same field and year, belong to the top 10% most cited publications (P(top 10%)) and the percentage share of these publications (PP(top 10%)). It is also possible to look at collaboration, open access and gender.

Find out more about the CWTS Leiden Ranking

See also