Shanghai, Leiden, Reuters: UM tops international rankings
The University of Montpellier is one of the world's leading universities. Proof of the positive momentum generated by the deployment of its I-SITE (France 2030) excellence program.

Shanghai ranking: um in the top 200, 2nd worldwide in ecology
Shanghai 2024 global ranking
The Shanghai ranking list is published annually by Shanghai Jiao Tong University (China). It is one of the benchmarks in the academic world. The 2024 edition of the Shanghai ranking once again demonstrates UM's very positive overall dynamic, confirming its position for the sixth year running as one of the 151-200 best universities in the world. Constantly improving since 2016, when the UM was in the top 400, these good results demonstrate that the University of Montpellier, thanks in particular to its I-SITE Excellence program, is a major player in Higher Education, Research and Innovation in France.
Shanghai 2024 thematic ranking
This international thematic ranking analyzes and ranks the world's top universities according to their academic subjects. Over 50 subject areas (natural sciences, engineering, life sciences, medicine and social sciences, etc.) are listed and analyzed. Based on performance criteria such as university publications, impact, international dimension and quality of research, as well as international prizes and awards, this ranking places the University of Montpellier among the world's top universities for the 7th year running.
The University of Montpellier particularly stands out in 5 fields, ranking 7th worldwide in ecology behind prestigious international universities. It is also the only French university (outside Paris) to have a theme in the world's top 10. The UM is also4th in France (2nd outside Paris) and3rd in terms of disciplines ranked in the top 100. UM is in the world's top 75 in specific fields such as water resources, agronomic sciences and statistics, as well as in the top 100 for remote sensing. Its ranking in chemistry has also risen, from 201-300 in 2023 to 101-150 by 2024.
TIMES HIGHER EDUCATION (THE)
The Times Higher Education Impact Rankings aim to measure the commitment and performance of higher education establishments in terms of sustainable development. The Times Higher Education Impact Rankings are innovative in that they don't simply rank institutions on the basis of their research or teaching performance, but also take a much more societal approach. It is based on the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) adopted in 2015 by the United Nations.
The University of Montpellier confirms its progress in The Times Higher Education Impact Rankings. In its 6th edition, it maintains its number-one position among French institutions and is ranked among the world's top 101-200 institutions for its long-standing commitment to sustainable development. This year, it features in the world's top 50 for 2 objectives, in line with the establishment's major themes: food, care and protection. UM stands out on the "health and well-being" MDG, occupying 30th place worldwide and 1st place in France. UM has also made great strides on the "aquatic life" ODD, with a 30th place worldwide and a new 1st place in France, demonstrating once again UM's excellence in the field of ecology.
The University of Montpellier ranks 67th worldwide in the "Reducing Inequalities" SDG and 77th in the "Work and Economic Growth" SDG, putting it at the top of the list of French establishments. All these results testify to the UM's total commitment to social responsibility.
Leiden ranking: center for world university ranking
Created in 2011, the ranking produced by Leiden University's Centre for science and technology studies (CWTS) measures the scientific reputation of institutions and their research collaboration. The 2024 ranking ranks over 1,500 institutions and covers 5 disciplinary fields: medicine, physics, life and earth sciences, mathematics, humanities and social sciences. The Leiden ranking is based on scientific publications, in particular articles published in scientific journals, which enable it to select sophisticated bibliometric indicators to generate results and analyze the ranking of universities according to one or more selected indicators.
- Quality of education, measured by the number of a university's alumni who have won international prizes, awards and medals relative to the size of the university (25%)
- Alumni employability, measured by the number of a university's alumni who have held CEO positions in the world's largest companies relative to the size of the university (25%)
- Academic quality of the university, measured by the number of academics who have won international prizes, awards and medals (10%)
- Research results, measured by the total number of research articles (10%)
- Quality publications, measured by the number of research articles published in top-ranked journals (10%)
- Influence, measured by the number of research articles published in highly influential journals (10%)
- Citations, measured by the number of research documents cited (10%)
The University of Montpellier has once again confirmed its scientific reputation both nationally and internationally, ranking 4th nationally (first provincial university) and 203rd worldwide.
QS world university rankings
QS World University Rankings, created in 2004, is one of the world's most reputable rankings for higher education and research. It places great emphasis on reputation surveys, which account for 50% of the evaluation. This year, 171 of the world's 1,700 leading universities in some 100 countries are ranked according to 55 thematic categories, all grouped into five areas.
In its 15th edition, it maintains its status as one of the world's leading national and international establishments.
The University of Montpellier is the French institution that has made the most progress this year, moving up from 151st to 119th place in the Environmental Sciences ranking "thanks to significant gains in terms of academic reputation and reputation with employers", the British company also points out. The UM appears 22 times in this year's ranking, compared with 18 times in 2024, confirming its progress year after year.
National taiwan university (ntu) ranking
The "Performance ranking of scientific papers for world universities", also known as NTU, is published annually by the National Taiwan University (NTU). They compare the scientific performance of the world's universities, based on academic publications, from three angles: research productivity, research impact and research excellence. This year, NTU offers a global performance ranking (top 1000), as well as 6 domain-specific rankings and 27 subject-specific rankings (top 100 and top 500).
The University of Montpellier thus ranks among the top 4 in France, and among the top 127 worldwide in the NTU world university ranking. It also performed remarkably well in the thematic rankings by discipline and research theme.
Reuters: 2nd French university
It ranks the world's 100 most innovative universities: those that do the most to advance science, invent new technologies and help drive the global economy forward. Unlike other rankings, which are often based wholly or partly on subjective surveys, Reuters relies exclusively on empirical data such as patent filings and research publication citations.
In 2019, the University of Montpellier will rank 2nd in France and 17th in Europe.