Ranking Universities in the German-speaking World

AUSTRIA | GERMANY | SWITZERLAND

The annual Times Higher Education (THE) survey of over 1,250 universities is a good barometer for seeing how universities around the globe compare to each other. In the rankings below, we have edited the list to concentrate on universities in the three main German-speaking countries.

The Top 20 Universities in the World (2019)

As in previous years, the THE list continues to be dominated by universities in the US and the UK. The only German-speaking university in the top 25 is ETH Zurich (11th). The top 20 world universities in 2019, with country and overall score:

• 1 University of Oxford UK | 96.0
• 2 University of Cambridge UK | 94.8
• 3 Stanford University USA | 94.7
• 4 Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) USA | 94.2
• 5 California Institute of Technolgy (Cal Tech) USA | 94.1
• 6 Harvard University USA | 93.6
• 7 Princeton University USA | 92.3
• 8 Yale University USA | 91.3
• 9 Imperial College London UK | 90.3
• 10 University of Chicago USA | 90.2
• 11 ETH Zurich (Swiss Federal Institute of Technology) Switzerland | 89.3
• 12 (tie) Johns Hopkins University USA | 89.0
• 12 (tie) University of Pennsylvania USA | 89.0
• 14 UCL (University College London) UK | 87.8
• 15 University of California, Berkeley USA | 84.3
• 16 Columbia University USA | 87.2
• 17 University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) USA | 86.4
• 18 Duke University USA | 85.4
• 19 Cornell University USA | 85.1
• 20 University of Michigan, Ann Arbor USA | 84.1

WEB > THE World University Rankings 2019 – Top 200 and more

Times Higher Education Rankings:
Top Universities in Austria, Germany, and Switzerland

The rankings below are listed by country and the 2019 world rank of each university in that nation. For 2019, the Times Higher Education rankings (in partnership with Thomson Reuters) list the top 400 institutions. Schools in the Top 200 also have their score listed. However, the rankings below 200 are in groups of 50 (201-250, 251-300, etc. – and even larger after 400), without a specific rank or score within each section. (We don’t list those here.) You can see the complete THE World University Rankings online from Times Higher Education.

Berlin’s Humboldt Universität honors its founder with this statue. A similar statue nearby honors Wilhelm’s explorer brother Alexander von Humboldt. PHOTO: Hyde Flippo

Austria 2019

Austria: THE World University Rankings 2019

• 143 (tie) University of Vienna 57.6, the only Austrian university in the Top 200 – Its rank is up from 2018, when Vienna was ranked 165th.

Austrian universities ranked below 200:

• 201-250 group Medical University of Graz
• 201-250 group Medical University of Vienna
• 251-275 group Vienna University of Technology
• 351-400 group University of Innsbruck
• 401-500 group Graz University of Technology
• 501-600 group Karl-Franzens-Universität Graz
• 501-600 group Johannes Kepler Universität Linz
• 601-800 group University of Leoben

In 2019 Vienna (143rd) was the only university in Austria to make the World Top 200, and it stopped its falling rank over the last several years. In 2007 Vienna ranked 85th. It was 162nd in 2013, 165th in 2018.

Germany 2019

• 32 (tie) LMU Munich (Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität) 78.3
• 44 (tie) Technical University of Munich (Technische Universität) 73.7
• 47 Heidelberg University (Ruprecht-Karl U.) 73.2
• 67 Humboldt University of Berlin 67.2
• 76 University of Freiburg (Albert-Ludwigs-Universität) 64.7
• 87 (tie) RWTH Aachen (Rheinisch-Westfälische Technische Hochschule) 63.3
• 89 University of Tübingen (Eberhard Karls University) 63.2
• 90 (tie) Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin 63.0
• 104 Freie Universität, Berlin (Free University) 61.4
• 110 (tie) Universität Bonn 60.3
• 123 (tie) University of Göttingen (Georg-August-Universität) 59.0
• 123 (tie) University of Mannheim 59.0
• 131 Technical University Berlin (TU Berlin) 58.7
• 135 (tie) University of Hamburg 58.3
• 135 (tie) Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) 58.3
• 146 (tie) University of Cologne 57.3
• 149 (tie) Ulm University 57.2
• 151 TU Dresden 57.0
• 159 (tie) Universität Würzburg 56.2
• 175 (tie) Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg 55.2
• 184 (tie) University of Münster 54.4
• 189 Universität Konstanz 54.1
• 190 (tie) University of Duisberg-Essen 54.0

LMU Munich continues to lead the German rankings. Germany’s “Excellence Initiative” funding for some of its public universities continues to pay off. (See Part 1 for more.) The number of German institutions in the Top 200 in 2019 was 23, a dramatic increase over 2013, when only 11 German Unis were ranked in the World Top 200.
WEB > Germany: THE World University Rankings 2019

Do You Need an Official German Translation of Your Diploma or Transcript?
Students and expats in Germany sometimes require an official translation of a diploma, school transcripts, or other documents in order to attend a German school. This applies to all levels, from elementary to university.

For a different ranking list for Germany and the world, see the links below (ShanghaiRanking Consultancy):
WEB > Academic Ranking of World Universities (ShanghaiRanking Consultancy)

ETH Zurich’s new Hönggerberg Campus (“Science City”) was a response to a space shortage. It was designed in 2004 as an attractive district based on the principle of sustainability. The Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule (ETH), a public research university, was founded in 1854. Albert Einstein was both a student and a professor at ETH. PHOTO: Hannes Röst (Wikimedia Commons)

Switzerland 2019

• 11 Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich (ETH Zürich) 89.3
• 35 École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne 76.9
• 90 (tie) University of Zurich 63.0
• 103 Universität Basel 61.5
• 110 (tie) University of Bern 60.3
• 135 (tie) University of Geneva 58.3 (French-speaking region)
• 176 University of Lausanne 54.9 (French-speaking region)

Five German-speaking universities in Switzerland were in the World Top 200 in 2019.

SOURCE: Times Higher Education rankings (2019)

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Related Pages
AT THE GERMAN WAY

• Universities in Germany – About the German university system
• Education – The German education system
• The German School System – How does the German primary and secondary school system work?
• Universities in Germany – Higher education in Germany

ON THE WEB

• (London) Times Higher Education rankings for all years
• Academic Ranking of World Universities – The ShanghaiRanking Consultancy’s rankings

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