Ulm University is once again among the top 20 universities in Germany in THE World University Ranking 2025, placing 19th. Ulm scored particularly well in the areas of teaching staff-student ratio, research quality and the "Industry" evaluation criterion. In an international comparison of over 2000 institutions, Ulm University is ranked 199th among the top 200 universities worldwide.
The renowned 2025 ranking by the British magazine "Times Higher Education" (THE) is led by the University of Oxford (Great Britain). It is followed by the US universities Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard. The best German university is the Technical University of Munich (ranked 26th), followed by the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich (ranked 38th) and the University of Heidelberg (ranked 47th). The University of Mannheim is ranked 199th, together with Ulm University, the University of São Paulo (Brazil) and the Spanish Autonomous University of Barcelona.
Ulm University received full marks in the area of "Teaching" for its "Doctorate bachelor ratio" and the "Doctorate staff ratio". The quality of research, with the factors "Research excellence" and "Research influence", was also rated as very good. Ulm also scored very well in the "Industry" evaluation criterion, which measures knowledge transfer and combines industry income and patents. "Once again, we are among the top 20 universities in Germany and can hold our own in the environment of much larger and older universities. The personal support of our students, the specialised range of subjects and the excellent research contribute to this," says University President Professor Michael Weber.
The evaluation method of THE Ranking was updated just last year: 18 performance indicators, such as "research influence" or "international students", are currently included in the ranking and have also been re-weighted. The areas covered include teaching, research environment and research quality (including citations, excellence and influence), each of which is given a weighting of around one third. The factors of industry and internationality are combined to make up around eleven per cent of the overall score. The weighted individual results are used to determine an overall result for each university, which in turn determines its ranking.
A total of 2,092 institutions from 115 countries and territories are ranked in THE World University Ranking.
THE World University Ranking 2025
Text and media contact: Daniela Stang