While American universities continue to dominate, French higher education holds its own in the latest Shanghai Ranking published this Thursday. Four French universities appear in the top 100,
with Paris-Saclay standing out by securing the 12th place, the highest ranking ever achieved by a French institution.
This controversial yet closely watched ranking was revealed on Thursday, August 15. Once again, American universities, led by Harvard, occupy the top spots, but Paris-Saclay shines by reaching the 12th position, making it the leading institution in continental Europe in higher education.
For the 22nd consecutive year, Harvard University retains the top position, followed by two other American universities, Stanford and MIT, in this global ranking of the best higher education institutions, conducted since 2003 by the independent consultancy, Shanghai Ranking Consultancy. Cambridge and Oxford in the United Kingdom hold the 4th and 6th places, with the top ten entirely dominated by English-speaking universities.
An Excellent Performance for French Universities
Twenty-five French institutions are among the top 1,000, with eighteen in the Top 500. Paris-Saclay University, ranked in the Top 20 since 2020, climbs three places in this 2024 edition to reach the 12th position.
"No French university has ever been ranked this high," President Emmanuel Macron celebrated on the social network X, noting that these results reflect "the international recognition of French academic leaders."
In addition to Paris-Saclay, three other French institutions in the Top 100 have made significant progress compared to 2023: Paris Sciences-Lettres University (33rd; +8 places), Sorbonne University (41st; +5 places), and Paris-Cité University (60th; +9 places).
"This confirms the success of the new models of French universities and the impact of the research programming law and the France 2030 plan," the French president said in his message.
Research-Based Criteria
France is now "the third nation in the Shanghai Ranking, based on the number of institutions in the top 20," stated Sylvie Retailleau, the Minister of Higher Education, on X.
"This contributes to raising France's profile on the international radar. This ranking is considered by students from many countries, so it’s good news," she added on France Inter.
Since 2003, the Shanghai Ranking has evaluated universities based on six criteria, including the number of Nobel laureates and Fields Medals – considered the Nobel of mathematics – among graduates and faculty, the number of highly cited researchers in their field, and the number of publications in Science and Nature journals.
These criteria, mainly focused on research rather than teaching, fuel ongoing criticism of this annual ranking.
As in previous editions, over 2,500 institutions were assessed to create this ranking of the top 1,000 universities. Photo by Jmex, Wikimedia commons.