Shanghai, Leiden, Reuters: UM at the top of international rankings

The University of Montpellier is ranked among the top universities in the world. This is proof of the positive momentum generated by the deployment of its I-SITE (France 2030) program of excellence.

It is ranked third in the world in the Shanghai thematic ranking for ecology, second in France in the Reuters ranking of the most innovative universities, and fifth in the Leiden ranking, which monitors the quality of scientific publications. In the new 2020-2021 rankings of the Centre for World University Rankings of the world's 20,000 universities, it is ranked 168th.

Shanghai ranking: UM in the TOP200 and 3rd place in ecology

The Shanghai ranking is published every year by the Shanghai Jiao Tong University (China). It is one of the references in the academic world. Ranked in the top 400 in 2016, the University of Montpellier has climbed into the Top 200 of the world's best universities in 2019 and is consolidating its progress in 2022. In the 2022 thematic ranking, it maintains its status as a world leader in ecology by taking third place on the podium with Oxford (#1) and University of Minnesota, Twin Cities (#2). This remarkable result attests to the excellence of Montpellier's research in this field. Montpellier also stands out in oceanography, earth and veterinary sciences, statistics, and remote sensing. Finally, the University of Montpellier is ranked among the top 50 universities in six areas: geography (47th), water resources (45th), food science (49th) and agriculture (17th), and biotechnology (35th). This illustrates the real match between the University of Montpellier's scope of excellence and that of its I-SITE program of excellence at the site level

Reuters : 2nd French university

This ranking ranks the world's 100 most innovative universities: those that are doing the most to advance science, invent new technologies, and help drive the global economy. Unlike other rankings that often rely 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 reaches the 2nd place in France, the 17th place in Europe.

Times Higher Education (THE)

The specialized newspaper Times Higher Education (THE) publishes annual rankings of the world's best universities based on research, teaching and impact. These rankings are intended for students and present universities according to their specialization and the quality of their teaching, research, study environment, publications, sustainable development (SDO), etc.

The World University Ranking 2022 evaluates each year the best universities in the world, among 1600 universities in 99 countries, according to 13 performance indicators: teaching, research, knowledge transfer and international perspectives. The 2022 edition places Oxford University, California Institute of Technology and Harvard University on the podium.

The University of Montpellier is ranked 301-350 in the world and 9th in the country.

The Times Higher Education Impact Rankings aim to measure the commitment and performance of higher education institutions in terms of sustainable development. It is innovative in that it does not simply rank institutions by analyzing their research or training, but takes a much more societal approach. It is based on the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) adopted in 2015 by the United Nations. A total of 1406 universities participated in this fourth edition. The University of Montpellier is in the top 100 worldwide for four of the SDGs and is ranked first in France for two of them. It is by crossing different criteria (health, equality, education, economy, work...) that it became the first French institution (ranked 4-9 in 2021) and in the top 101-200 worldwide this year (ranked 201-300 in 2021).

The University of Montpellier is the leading French institution for objectives related to health, well-being and the reduction of inequalities. The University of Montpellier is particularly noteworthy for its ranking on the third MDG, "Good health and well-being", where it is ranked first nationally and 81st worldwide. With a score of 81.3 out of 100, the UM is the highest-ranked French institution among the universities that work for the health and well-being of all, whether in its academic research or in its collaborations and services offered.

On MDG 10 "Reducing Inequality", UM ranks 1st nationally and 28th globally, with a score of 82 per 100.

UM is ranked third in France for goals related to decent work and economic growth and quality of education.
On the French MDG 8, "Decent Work, Economic Growth," UM is ranked third in France and 55th in the world with a score of 73.7 per 100. On "Quality Education" (SDG 4), UM reaffirms its commitment to ensuring equal access to quality education without discrimination and to providing opportunities for lifelong learning. With a score of 75.6 per 100, it maintains its position in the French podium with a third place, and takes the 61st place worldwide (301-400th place in 2020).

The ranking THE Young Times lists the world's top universities aged 50 or younger. The 2021 ranking includes 475 universities. The table is based on the same 13 performance indicators as THE World University Rankings, but the weights have been adjusted to give less weight to reputation.
In 2021, the University of Montpellier is ranked 65th in the world and 6th in the country.

Leiden's ranking

Since 2007, the Center for Science and Technology Studies (CWTS) of the University of Leiden (Netherlands) has been developing a university ranking based solely on bibliometric indicators. This ranking, which provides important information on the scientific performance of more than 1,300 major universities worldwide, is based on scientific publications and their citations (Clarivate Analytics' Web of Science database). The selected universities all have at least 1,000 scientific publications to their credit over the 2017-2020 period. The indicators used for this ranking are of several types: number of publications, impact based on their citations and indicators on collaborations related to these publications.

The University of Montpellier continues its progress in 2022. In the world ranking of most cited publications (+10%), published on June 22, 2022, the University of Montpellier has moved up 16 places compared to 2021, ranking 151st in the world. Another key indicator of this ranking is that the UM has risen to 13th place worldwide in the "Life & Earth Sciences" segment, 16th among the most cited publications (+10%).

Center for World University Ranking

The University of Montpellier continues to progress according to the CWTS Leiden Ranking. This ranking, which provides important information on the scientific performance of more than 1,300 major universities worldwide, is based on scientific publications and their citations. The only global university ranking that measures the quality of education and training of students as well as the prestige of faculty and the quality of their research, it takes into account the following criteria

  1. Quality of education, as measured by the number of a university's alumni who have won international awards, prizes and medals relative to the size of the university (25%)
  2. Alumni employability, as 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%)
  3. Academic quality of the university, as measured by the number of academics who have won international awards, prizes and medals (10%)
  4. Research output, as measured by the total number of research articles (10%)
  5. Quality publications, as measured by the number of research articles published in top journals (10%)
  6. Influence, measured by the number of research articles published in highly influential journals (10%)
  7. Citations, as measured by the number of research documents cited (10%)

In the 2022 world ranking of the most cited publications (+10%), published on June 22, the University of Montpellier has moved up 16 places compared to 2021, ranking 151st in the world. Another important indicator of this ranking is that the UM has risen to 13th place in the world in the "Life & Earth Sciences" segment, 16th among the most cited publications (+10%).

QS World University Rankings

The QS World University Rankings, created in 2004, is one of the most reputable ranking lists on the world scene of higher education and research. It focuses on reputation surveys, which account for 50% of the evaluation. Eight hundred of the most internationally recognized universities are ranked according to six criteria, weighted in different ways. The University of Montpellier is the 4th French university in the general ranking for the "life sciences and medicine" theme and the only one to be in the top 100 for the "environmental sciences" discipline.

Overall ranking: the University of Montpellier is ranked 511th in the world.

Ranking by subject: UM's results in the QS World University Rankings by subject 2019 confirm its rise in power in two key areas of the MUSE I-SITE project:

  • Life sciences and medicine: UM is the 4th French institution in the overall "life sciences and medicine" ranking. At 162nd position, it has gained 9 places compared to 2018 and is positioned before the universities of Paris-Diderot, Aix-Marseille, Paris Sciences et Lettres (PSL) and Lyon 1.
  • Earth sciences: UM is one of only nine French institutions represented in the top 200 "earth sciences" (195th place). In the "environmental sciences" discipline, it is the only French institution represented in the top 100. In the "earth and marine sciences" discipline, it is in the top 100 alongside Sorbonne University and Grenoble-Alpes.

National Taiwan University (NTU) ranking

The University of Montpellier ranks 7th in France and 189th globally in the 2019 NTU rankings.
The University of Montpellier has been steadily rising since 2015, gaining 55 places in total and reaching 189th place globally in 2019, and 7th out of the 31 French institutions referenced. Each year, NTU (National Taiwan University) publishes its global ranking of more than 800 universities based on scientific publication performance.

  • National Taiwan University (NTU) ranking