The "Shanghai Ranking", which has been published since 2003, evaluates universities on the basis of various indicators, the main focus being on research. Among other things, scientific publications and citations, Nobel Prizes and the Fields Medal in Mathematics are considered.
In the current ranking, Bonn sits in the placement group 101-150. Only seven German universities were able to make it into the TOP 150 and Bonn is the only North Rhine-Westphalian university to be represented. In comparison to Germany, the University of Bonn shares the fifth to seventh place with the universities of Frankfurt and Freiburg.
Economics and mathematics at the forefront
In the newly published Shanghai ranking by subjects, Bonn's specialist areas rank in the top spots. The University of Bonn’s economics rank 29th worldwide and are thereby the leading German university in this field. Also leading in the German field is Bonn’s Department of Mathematics, ranked 32nd worldwide. Bonn's agricultural sciences, physics and human biology make it into the cohort 51-75, other biosciences in the group 76-100, and thus among Germany’s TOP 10. Earth sciences, geography and pharmacy rank in group 101-150 and chemistry, clinical medicine and dental medicine in group 151-200.
The ranking is highly regarded worldwide, although there is criticism towards the methodology. For example, Nobel laureates play an essential role for the evaluation, even if they were awarded 100 years ago, and thus selected indicators lead to a distortion of the evaluation in favor of universities, which are particularly strong in the natural sciences.
Momentum for the Excellence Initiative
The Rector of the University of Bonn, Prof. Dr. Michael Hoch, is still pleased about the once again strong assessment from Shanghai: "Even if a single ranking is only a snapshot and is strongly dependent on the chosen assessment criteria, the trend that the University of Bonn is consistently ranked among the best and strongest research universities in Germany is nevertheless very pleasing.” These renewed performance results are also great momentum for the University in Germany’s current Excellence Initiative competition.