Ghent University ranked Belgium's best university again
Ghent University has once again been voted the highest ranking Belgian university in the Academic Ranking of World Universities. This year the university rose 8 places in the global ranking of research institutions to reach 61st place.
Since 2003, the Academic Ranking of World Universities has been conducted on an annual basis by Shanghai Jiao Tong University in China. The ranking compares 1,500 higher education institutions based on criteria such as the number of Nobel prizes won by alumni and professors, the number of frequently cited researchers and the number of top publications.
Ever since the list began, the leading institution has remained the American University of Harvard, followed by two other American universities Stanford and Berkeley. This year two Belgian universities feature in the top 100, Ghent University (61st place) and KU Leuven, in 93rd place. The University of Louvain and the Université libre de Bruxelles (ULB) are positioned between the 151st and 200th place, Antwerp University and the VUB between the 201st and 300th place and the last Belgian university to appear in the top 500 is the University of Liège (ULiège), ranking between 301st and 400th position.
As in previous years, Ghent University scores particularly well thanks to its high number of scientific publications, scientists who are very often cited by others and high productivity.