Shanghai, Leiden, Reuters: UM Tops International Rankings
In the world’s leading rankings, the University of Montpellier holds a top position. This is a testament to the positive momentum generated by the rollout of its I-SITE (France 2030) excellence program.
Shanghai Ranking: UM in the Top 200
The 2025 Shanghai Global Ranking
The Shanghai Ranking is published annually by Shanghai Jiao Tong University (China). It is one of the leading benchmarks in the academic world. The 2024 edition of the Shanghai Ranking once again highlights the University of Montpellier’s very positive overall momentum, as it has been ranked among the world’s top 151–200 universities for the eighth consecutive year. Having risen steadily since 2016, when UM was ranked in the top 400, these strong results demonstrate that the University of Montpellier, thanks in particular to its I-SITE Excellence Program, is a major player in higher education, Research innovation in France.
The 2025 Shanghai Thematic Ranking
This international subject-specific ranking analyzes and ranks the world’s top universities by academic subject. More than 50 subject areas—including natural sciences, engineering, life sciences, medicine, and social sciences—are listed and analyzed. Based on performance criteria such as university publications, their impact, international reach, and the quality of their research, as well as international prizes and awards received, this ranking places the University of Montpellier among the world’s best universities for the eighth consecutive year.
This latest edition of the Shanghai Ranking confirms the University of Montpellier’s position among the most internationally recognized institutions. Ecology ranks 14th globally and first in France, attesting to the discipline’s national leadership. It is also the only French university (outside of Paris) to have a subject area ranked in the global top 10.
Several subject areas feature in the global top 75, including robotics, water resources, and agricultural sciences, which rank among the top nationally (1st or 2nd place). These results demonstrate the strength of the fields of expertise for which the institution is particularly well-known.
The global top 100 also includes remote sensing, statistics, and oceanography, with the latter showing significant growth compared to 2024, when it ranked in the top 150. These developments highlight a positive trend in strategic scientific fields.
Other disciplines, such as food science and technology (ranked 2nd nationally) and chemistry, remain in the global top 150, underscoring the diversity and strength of the university’s centers of excellence.
Time Magazine's Ranking
In the 2026 edition of the World’s Top Universities ranking published by TIME Magazine on January 28, 2026, the University of Montpellier stands out by ranking 244th worldwide. It is thus the third-ranked French university, behind Sorbonne University and Paris-Saclay, and becomes the top university outside of Paris in this international ranking.
This ranking, developed in partnership with Statista R, evaluates more than 500 universities worldwide based on criteria related to academic performance, research, innovation, economic impact, and international influence.
This recognition reflects the quality of the education, the scientific excellence, and the commitment of the entire Montpellier academic community. It also demonstrates the University of Montpellier’s ability to address the major contemporary challenges facing higher education.
With this achievement, the University of Montpellier reaffirms its position among the leading institutions in Europe and worldwide, and enhances its appeal to students, researchers, and partners from around the globe.
TIMES HIGHER EDUCATION (THE)
The Times Higher Education Impact Rankingsare an international ranking designed to measure higher education institutions’ commitment to and performance in sustainable development. Innovative in nature, it goes beyond a traditional ranking based on research or education, adopting a different, much more societal approach. It is based on the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) adopted by the United Nations in 2015.
The University of Montpellier has maintained its upward trend in theTimes Higher Education Impact Rankings. In its6thedition, it retains its top spot among French institutions and ranks in the overall list among the world’s top 101–200 institutions thanks to its longstanding commitment to sustainable development. This year, it ranks in the global top 50 for two goals aligned with the university’s core themes: feeding, healing, and protecting. UM stands out in the “Good Health and Well-being” SDG, ranking30thglobally and 1st in France. UM has made significant progress in the “Life Below Water” SDG, ranking30thglobally and once again takingthe topspot nationally, demonstrating once more UM’s excellence in the field of ecology.
The University of Montpellier ranks67thworldwide in the SDG “reducing inequalities” category and77thin the SDG “decent work and economic growth” category, making it the top-ranked French institution. These results underscore UM’s unwavering commitment to social responsibility.
Leiden Ranking: Center for World University Rankings
Created in 2011, the ranking produced by the Centre for Science and Technology Studies (CWTS) at Leiden University measures the scientific reputation of institutions and their research collaboration. The 2024 ranking evaluates more than 1,500 institutions and covers five disciplinary fields: medicine, physics, life and earth sciences, mathematics, and humanities and social sciences. The Leiden Ranking is based on scientific publications, particularly articles published in scientific journals, which enable it to select sophisticated bibliometric indicators to generate results and analyze university rankings according to one or more selected indicators.
- The quality of education, measured by the number of a university’s alumni who have won international awards, prizes, and medals relative to the university’s size (25%)
- The employability of alumni, measured by the number of alumni from a university who have held CEO positions at the world’s largest companies relative to the university’s size (25%)
- The university's academic quality, as measured by the number of faculty members who have won international awards, prizes, and medals (10%)
- Research output, measured by the total number of research articles (10%)
- High-quality publications, as measured by the number of research articles published in top-tier journals (10%)
- Influence, as measured by the number of research articles published in highly influential journals (10%)
- Citations, measured by the number of research papers cited (10%)
The University of Montpellier has once again demonstrated its scientific influence both nationally and internationally, ranking 4th in France (the top university outside Paris) and 203rd worldwide.
QS World University Rankings
The QS World University Rankings, established in 2004, is one of the world’s most prestigious rankings of higher education and research institutions. It places significant emphasis on reputation surveys, which account for 50% of the evaluation. This year, out of more than 1,700 of the most recognized universities in some 100 countries, 171 institutions are ranked across 55 subject-specific rankings, all grouped into five fields.
Now in its 15th edition, it maintains its position in the overall rankings among the world’s and the nation’s top institutions.
The University of Montpellier is the French institution that has made the most significant progress this year, rising from 151st to 119th place in environmental sciences “thanks to significant gains in academic reputation and employer reputation,” the British firm also notes. UM appears 22 times in this year’s rankings, compared to 18 times in 2024, confirming its steady progress year after year.
National Taiwan University (NTU) Ranking
The "Performance Ranking of Scientific Papers for World Universities," also known as the NTU Ranking, is published annually by National Taiwan University (NTU). It compares the scientific performance of universities worldwide based on academic publications, focusing on three key areas: research productivity, research impact, and research excellence. This year, NTU is releasing the overall performance rankings (top 1,000), as well as six discipline-specific rankings and 27 subject-specific rankings (top 100 and top 500).
The University of Montpellier is thus ranked among the top 4 in France and the top 127 worldwide in the NTU World University Rankings. It also performs remarkably well in subject-specific rankings by academic discipline and research area.
Reuters: France's second-ranked university
This ranking lists the 100 most innovative universities in the world: those that make the greatest efforts to advance science, invent new technologies, and help drive the growth of the global economy. Unlike other rankings, which are often based entirely or in part on subjective surveys, Reuters relies exclusively on empirical data such as patent filings and citations of research publications.
In 2019, the University of Montpellier ranked second in France and 17th in Europe.