International university rankings
There are a considerable number and variety of rankings that compare and evaluate universities based on various performance indicators. The results of university rankings can have a measurable influence on the image and therefore the attractiveness of a university. This is particularly the case in an international context, where analyses and comparisons of educational institutions play an important role for different target groups.
International university rankings differ in terms of the methodologies, evaluation criteria and the selection of subjects, subject areas and other factors. Depending on the ranking, the quality of research and teaching, publications and citations or indicators such as internationalisation, digitalisation and sustainability, for example, are of great relevance.
Paderborn University recognises the importance of international university rankings and participates in selected rankings with good and in some cases excellent results. In doing so, the UPB aims to deal systematically with the ranking providers and the results achieved.
To this end, a guideline for dealing with international university rankings was developed and adopted by the leadership of Paderborn University. The aim of this guideline is to do justice to the importance of rankings and to define guidelines for the university's dealings with them.
The guidelines for Paderborn University handling of international university rankings (in German) can be accessed internally only.
Times Higher Education (THE) - World University Ranking
The British magazine Times Higher Education (THE) publishes several international university rankings annually, including the prestigious World University Ranking (WUR).
In this ranking, the performance of participating universities is evaluated based on five central indicators with varying weightings, which include:
- Teaching
- Research Environment
- Research Quality
- Industry
- International Outlook
In the current edition of the World University Rankings by THE (2025), a total of 2,092 universities from 115 countries and territories participated. Paderborn University successfully placed itself within the overall ranking in the range of 501-600 and particularly excelled in the categories of Research Environment and Industry Cooperation. In the global comparison, the university ranks among the best 280 and 340 universities worldwide, respectively.
Further information can be found on the ranking provider's website.
CWTS Leiden Ranking
The Centre for Science and Technology Studies (CWTS) at Leiden University in the Netherlands has published the so-called CWTS Leiden Ranking every year since 2007. This international university ranking is a purely bibliometric ranking based on data provided by the American company Clarivate.
The methodology of the ranking is based on a large number of different indicators in the publication analysis, with the aim of doing justice to the diversity of universities. The Leiden Ranking is characterised by a high degree of transparency and aims to avoid the methodological shortcomings of other existing rankings.
In the news edition of the ranking (2024), the 1,506 universities from 72 countries with the most publications were analysed, including 57 from Germany.
UPB's results for the current comparison period (2019 to 2022) in the field of scientific impact in terms of the share of all 10 per cent of the most cited publications:
Mathematics and computer science subject category: 1st place (national); 30th place (worldwide)
Overall ranking of universities: 621 in international comparison or 25th place in Germany. For classification: There are more than 20,000 universities worldwide.
Global Ranking of Academic Subjects (Shanghai subject ranking)
This international university ranking goes back to the Shanghai Jiao Tong University and the year 2003. Since 2009, the Shanghai Rankings have been published annually by the Shanghai Ranking Consultancy for universities and their subject areas.
The Global Ranking of Academic Subjects ("Shanghai Subject Ranking") exclusively evaluates the performance in the various departments at universities worldwide.
The focus of this type of Shanghai Ranking is on the field of research with great emphasis on the indicators of publications, citations and prizes. All universities worldwide that have achieved a certain level of performance in research in at least one department are considered for inclusion in the ranking. Publications in major journals of highly cited works by scientists at universities or high-ranking prize winners (Nobel Prize, Fields Medal) play an important role.
In the latest edition of the ranking (2024), 5,000 universities from 96 countries and territories were compared with each other and 1,900 universities were ranked in 55 different subjects.
Results of individual UPB departments in the 2024 ranking:
Mathematics: Rank group 7 to 11 (national), 100 to 151 (worldwide)
Electrical & Electronic Engineering: Rank group 7 to 10 (national), 301 to 400 (worldwide)
Education: Rank group 15 to 20 (national), 401 to 500 (worldwide)
Further information can be found on the pages of the ranking provider.
Highly Cited Researchers (Clarivate)
This international evaluation by Clarivate names researchers whose publications in their respective department have been cited most frequently by other researchers worldwide or have achieved outstanding publication performance across several disciplines. The citation frequency measures how often a publication is cited and is therefore considered an important indicator of scientific influence and recognition among researchers.
Publications are rated as "highly cited" if they are among the "top 1 per cent" of the most cited publications in the respective discipline and in the respective publication year. The evaluation of the Highly Cited Researchers has existed since 2001 and has been published annually in its current format since 2014. It currently comprises a total of around 7,100 citations by researchers from 67 countries in 20 disciplines in the natural, life and social sciences as well as the cross-field (interdisciplinary) category.
For the last edition of the Highly Cited Researchers with Paderborn participation (2022), publications from the years 2011 to 2021 were included in the ranking:
UPB results:
Category "Mathematics": Prof Dr Michael Winkler
International Ranking on Patent Applications (German Economic Institute)
The German Economic Institute (Institut der deutschen Wirtschaft, IW) published an international ranking on patent applications in the higher education sector in October 2024. The analysis is based on the IW patent database, which includes universities and their affiliated institutions that have been active in patenting at least once since 1994. In this latest global comparison, 1,767 patent-active universities were analyzed for the period from 2017 to 2021. The evaluation considered patents for which a university was listed as the primary applicant; co-applications were included fractionally in the assessment.
Overall ranking of Paderborn University: 338th worldwide.
The university's patent applications are primarily in the fields of circuit technology and mechanical engineering.
Further information can be found on the ranking provider's website.
Kontakt
Tilo Wodzinski, Referent internationale Rankings
Dezernat 6, Sachgebiet 1
E-Mail; Telefon +49 5251 60-4374; Raum J1.141