Ecology, agronomy, biotech... Muse themes in the top 100 of the Shanghai rankings

The Shanghai Thematic Ranking 2021 places the University of Montpellier in the world's top 100 in ten disciplinary fields, most of which are related to Muse themes. For the 5th year running, the UM confirms its position among the leaders in ecology, and makes significant inroads into the fields of remote sensing and food science and technology.

Abbie Tayler Smith - Greenpeace

Much discussed and eagerly awaited, the Global ranking of academy subjects, published each year by Shanghai University, became available on May 27. The University of Montpellier appears 10 times in the top 100 and 20 times in the top 200. This progress confirms its excellence in the fields covered by the I-site Muse, with ecology at the top of the list. Ranked 3rd in the world in this field, the UM thus retains its place on the podium for the fifth year running, behind Oxford still in first place and the University of Minnesota, which steals second place from the University of California Davis, a privileged partner of the UM.

We are delighted to remain among the world leaders in ecology," says Philippe Augé, President of the University of Montpellier. This is further proof of the openness of our researchers, teacher-researchers and laboratories to society's expectations and to the major challenges of climate and ecology. The agricultural sciences have also confirmed their position, rising from 42nd to 23rd place in two years. This rise is partly due to the close cooperation initiated in 2017 within the Muse consortium with Wageningen University, still the world leader in this sector. The third big surprise is biotechnology, which ranks 34th in this global ranking.

Fifth place in France

Still in the Muse theme, water sciences also feature in the top 100 - a fine progression for this field, which moves from a ranking in the "101-150" group in 2019, to the "51-75" group in 2021. UM joins the top 3 French universities in the field of water resources, along with Grenoble-Alpes and Toulouse - Paul Sabatier," comments Eric Servat, director of theIM2E andIcireward, the recently opened Unesco international center dedicated to water. This progression highlights the high quality of the work produced by Montpellier's water science teams. It's further recognition and confirmation of Montpellier's position as an international leader in a sector where the stakes will be high for decades to come.

This "51-75" group also includes geography and oceanography, already present in 2020, but also, and for the first time, food science and technology and remote sensing. Matthieu Ferry, a teacher-researcher at Géosciences Montpellier, is delighted with this result: " With the boom in remote sensing data and the development of artificial intelligence, earth, water and environmental science laboratories at the UM are developing new approaches to protecting resources and populations in the face of climatic and geological hazards. This high ranking is a testament to this." In fact, earth sciences and veterinary sciences are both ranked in the "76-100" group. Thanks to these ten citations in the top 100, the UM now ranks fifth in France, behind Paris-Saclay (cited 25 times), Sorbonne Université (19 times), Université Grenoble Alpes (18 times) and Paris Sciences et Lettres (15 times).

Muse: a strong collective dynamic

This is also a very good result for biology and human biology, clinical medicine and statistics, which feature in the "100-150" group of this world ranking. Last but not least, mathematics, chemistry, chemical engineering, materials engineering, environmental engineering, energy sciences and pharmaceuticals all feature in the top 200. Our results in this ranking should be interpreted as a further sign of the strength of our scientific forces and the effectiveness of the synergy conveyed by Muse. Together with all our partners, we have created a real collective dynamic, a common identity that enables the UM to shine internationally", asserts Philippe Augé, before concluding: "Muse must also serve to support, through these various calls for projects, the initiatives undertaken by other communities ".

Controversial classification criteria

Published annually since 2003 by Shanghai Jiao Tong University, the Global ranking of academy subject is a ranking of the world's leading universities proposed by researchers at this Chinese university. Since 2009, there has also been a thematic ranking by discipline. Six criteria are used to establish the ranking: the number of Nobel Prizes and Fields Medals won by alumni and researchers, the number of most cited researchers in their disciplines over the last ten years, the number of articles published in Nature and Science over the last 5 years, the number of articles indexed in the Science Citation Index and the Social Sciences Citation Index, and academic performance in relation to the size of the institution. These criteria are regularly called into question as being biased in favor of larger Anglo-Saxon universities. The question of the relevance of these criteria for evaluating the social sciences is also frequently raised.