International Rankings
THE World University Rankings
Results of the current ranking
In the THE World University Rankings 2026, the University of Freiburg ranks 12th out of 55 institutions evaluated in Germany. Internationally, it ranks 138th out of approximately 2,200 institutions. This marks the eleventh consecutive year that it has secured a place among the world’s top 150 universities.
The University of Freiburg ranks among the top ten universities in Germany in the “international outlook” category, where it is listed as the eighth-best German university in the rankings.
Methodology
The THE Rankings originated in an educational supplement of the British daily newspaper The Times and has been conducted on a worldwide basis since 2004. The rankings are based on 18 performance indicators in the areas of teaching, research environment, research quality, international outlook, and industry.
QS World University Rankings
Results of the current ranking
In the latest World University Rankings published by the British company Quacquarelli Symonds (QS), the University of Freiburg is ranked 14th nationally. In the overall international ranking, it is ranked 245th out of more than 1,500 universities.
The University of Freiburg is ranked amongst the top ten German universities across several indicators. In the Sustainability indicator, it ranks 5th nationally. In terms of the proportion of international academic staff (indicator International Faculty Ratio), the University of Freiburg ranks 6th amongst German universities. It ranks 9th nationally for Emplyment Outcomes.
Methodology
The British agency Quacquarelli Symonds compiled the THE rankings from 2004 to 2010 and has been publishing its own rankings since 2010. It now includes over 1,500 universities worldwide.
Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU)
Results of the current ranking
In the Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU), also known as the Shanghai Ranking, the University of Freiburg comes in at 101st to 150th internationally. (The ranking does not allow for a more precise breakdown of the results.) Nationally, the University of Freiburg is ranked 5th.
Methodology
Published since 2003, the Shanghai Ranking is among the oldest and most renowned research rankings. Since 2009 it has been published annually by Shanghai Ranking Consultancy, an independent organization for information on higher education. The ranking compares universities on the basis of six indicators that consider various aspects to measure the research performance of universities.
Highly Cited Researchers
Results of the current ranking
Nine University of Freiburg researchers are among the ‘Highly Cited Researchers’ for 2025. A survey by Clarivate Analytics reveals that they are among the most frequently cited authors worldwide in their fields of research over the past decade.
Methodology
Clarivate Analytics identifies the Highly Cited Researchers from an analysis of the most-cited papers in the Web of Science literature database. The list ranks the authors of research papers that are among the top one per cent in their field in the Web of Science citations index. For 2025, the survey looked at papers that were published and cited in the period from January 2014 to December 2024. In total, the list includes more than 6,800 researchers from 61 countries and regions.
CWTS Leiden Ranking
Results of the current ranking
In the research area of biomedical and health sciences, the University of Freiburg ranks sixth in terms of total publications. In the research area of life and earth sciences, it is listed in 10th place. In terms of the number of publications that rank among the top 10% and top 1% of the most frequently cited publications within a subject area in Germany, the University of Freiburg ranks ninth across all subjects. The University ranks 10th in terms of publications resulting from collaboration with commercial partners.
In the research area of biomedical and health sciences, the University of Freiburg ranks sixth in terms of total number of publications. It ranks fifth and third in terms of the number of top 10% and top 1% most cited publications in this area, and seventh and fifth in terms of its share of all publications.
Life and earth sciences at the University of Freiburg ranks tenth in terms of the number of publications and sixth in terms of the number of publications in the top 10% of most cited publications.
In terms of the proportion of publications involving commercial collaboration, the physical sciences and engineering research area ranks eighth.
Methodology
The newly introduced Open Edition of the renowned CWTS Leiden Ranking focuses on data from freely available sources, such as the bibliographic database OpenAlex or the Research Organization Registry (ROR), and exclusively uses open source algorithms to calculate bibliometric indicators. The open source CWTS Ranking is published alongside the traditional ranking, which, as in previous years, is based on bibliographic data from Clarivate Analytics’ proprietary Web of Science database.
National Rankings
CHE Ranking
Results of the current ranking
The University of Freiburg has achieved top results in the CHE Ranking 2026 in the fields of business administration, economics and law. The subject-specific ranking by the Centre for Higher Education Development (CHE) takes into account both data on study programmes, teaching and research, as well as student feedback.
In the latest round of the subject-specific ranking by the Centre for Higher Education Development (CHE), three subjects at the University of Freiburg were assessed: Business Administration, Economics and Law. The CHE ranking is subject-specific and incorporates data on study programmes, teaching and research, as well as student evaluations, into its assessment. Factual indicators are represented using ranking groups (top, middle and bottom groups), whilst student evaluations are presented in the form of star ratings (1 to 5 stars, with the top tier being 3.8 stars or above).
All three departments at the University of Freiburg that were assessed are ranked among the top performers in terms of support provided to new students. Furthermore, the Law and Economics departments are among the top performers in terms of the number of PhDs per professor. The Business Administration department also scores highly, receiving a top rating for the number of publications per professor.
The Law programme at the University of Freiburg has received top ratings across ten criteria (3.8 to 5 stars). Students in this programme rate the organisation of the programme (4.3 stars), the support provided for exam preparation (4.2 stars) and the general study environment (4.1 stars) particularly highly.
About the CHE Ranking 2026
The CHE Ranking provides a comprehensive comparison of universities and colleges across a wide range of subjects. The latest ranking includes results for the following subjects: Law, Business Administration, Economics, Business Studies, Business Informatics, Industrial Engineering, Business Psychology, Business Law and Social Work. The subjects listed are re-evaluated every three years. The complete CHE Ranking, covering all the subjects listed, is based on the opinions of approximately 120,000 students. In the subjects included in this year’s survey, around 35,000 students at 265 universities and universities of applied sciences responded to the CHE student survey.
DFG Funding Atlas
Results of the current ranking
The Funding Atlas of the German Research Foundation (DFG) has been published in its tenth edition. It highlights the University of Freiburg’s consistently strong research performance. During the observation period from 2020 to 2022, researchers at the University of Freiburg secured a total of €287.8 million in DFG funding. This places the University of Freiburg 8th among 229 higher education institutions.
The University of Freiburg also achieved several top 10 rankings:
University-wide Level:
- DFG approvals relative to the field-structure-adjusted statistical expectations per faculty: Rank 1
- DFG approvals relative to the field-structure-adjusted statistical expectations per scientific staff: Rank 6
- Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Prize winners (1986 to 2024) by institutional affiliation: Rank 5
University Medicine:
- Absolute DFG approvals for university medical institutions: Rank 3
- DFG approvals per faculty member at university medical institutions: Rank 1
Life Sciences:
- Total DFG funding in the scientific field: Rank 2
- DFG funding per faculty member in the scientific field: Rank 2
- AvH-funded researchers (2018-2022): Rank 7
- DAAD-funded researchers (2018-2022): Rank 7
- DFG approvals in the field of Biology: Rank 2
- DFG approvals in the field of Medicine: Rank 3
- DFG approvals in the field of Agricultural, Forestry, and Veterinary Sciences: Rank 3
Humanities and Social Sciences:
- DFG funding per faculty member in the scientific field: Rank 8
- AvH-funded researchers (2018-2022): Rank 9
- DFG approvals in the field of Humanities: Rank 10
Natural Sciences:
- DFG funding per faculty member in the scientific field: Rank 10
Engineering:
- DFG approvals in the field of Materials Science and Engineering: Rank 9
Observation Period: 2020–2022, unless otherwise noted. Rankings in specific DFG fields are based on the 20 universities with the highest DFG approvals in the respective scientific field.
Methodology
The DFG Funding Atlas has been a well-established source of reliable information since 1997, offering comprehensive analyses of publicly funded research in Germany. Every three years, the German Research Foundation publishes institution-specific and field-specific metrics in the Funding Atlas, focusing on external funding approvals from the DFG, the federal government, and the European Union.
Humboldt Ranking
Results of the current ranking
The University of Freiburg comes in at tenth place nationally in the current Humboldt Ranking. A total of 113 holders of Humboldt Foundation fellowships and awards conducted research at the University of Freiburg in the past years.
Methodology
The ranking of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation shows where in Germany international visiting scholars conducted research on fellowships or awards from the foundation in the past five years. To avoid statistical biases arising from the different sizes of the host institutions, the ranking puts the stays in relation to the number of professorships at the respective institution.
Starting with the 2023 edition, the ranking considers higher education institutions (universities, universities of applied sciences, universities of music and art) separately from non-university research institutes and other institutions for better comparability.
Sustainability Rankings
THE Sustainability Impact Rankings
Since a participation fee in the THE Sustainability Impact Rankings 2026 has been introduced, the University of Freiburg has decided to cease taking part in the programme. In the previous edition of the rankings (2025), it was ranked in the 201–300 range internationally and second nationally.
QS World University Rankings: Sustainability
Results of the current ranking
In a nationwide comparison with 64 other universities, the University of Freiburg ranks 5th in the overall ranking of the ‘QS World University Rankings: Sustainability 2026’. The University of Freiburg scores particularly well in the ‘Environmental Impact’ category. It ranks 5th in this category in Germany. Noteworthy in this category are the top rankings in the areas of ‘Environmental Education’ and ‘Environmental Research’. In the area of ‘Environmental Education’, the University of Freiburg ranks 1st nationally and 53rd internationally. As the second-best university nationally, the University of Freiburg is listed internationally at 37th place in the area of ‘Environmental Research’. In the ‘Social Impact’ category, the University of Freiburg ranks 4th nationally and 32nd internationally in the ‘Health and Wellbeing’ area. In the overall ranking, the University of Freiburg ranks 118th worldwide.
Methodology
The QS World University Rankings: Sustainability evaluate universities worldwide in terms of their sustainability work in research, teaching and society in an overall ranking and according to three categories: Social Impact, Environmental Impact and Governance. The categories ‘Social Impact’ and ‘Environmental Impact’ each account for 45 per cent of the overall ranking, while the category ‘Governance’ is weighted at 10 per cent.
Subject Rankings
THE World University Rankings by Subject
Results of the current ranking
The University of Freiburg is listed in nine of the eleven subject rankings in the latest “World University Rankings by Subject 2026.” The University of Freiburg ranks among the top ten German universities in five subjects and among the top 100 worldwide in two subjects.
- Law: Ranked 6th nationally, 78th internationally
- Medical and Health: Ranked 6th nationally
- Life Sciences: Ranked 7th nationally, 82nd internationally
- Arts and Humanities: Ranked 8th nationally
- Engineering: Ranked 9th nationally
Methodology
In line with the methodology of the THE World University Rankings, 18 indicators in the areas of teaching, research environment, research quality, international outlook and industry are taken into account. Their weighting varies by subject group.
QS World University Rankings by Subject
Results of the current ranking
In the latest QS World University Rankings by Subject 2026, a total of 55 subject-specific rankings have been compiled across the five broad subject areas of “Arts & Humanities,” “Engineering & Technology,” “Life Sciences & Medicine,” “Natural Sciences,” and “Social Sciences & Management”. The University of Freiburg is listed in 28 subject rankings.
In the QS World University Rankings by Subject, the University of Freiburg achieves several placements among the top 100 and top 200 internationally, as well as among the top 10 nationally, for example:
- Dentistry: tied for 2nd place nationally, ranked 51–150 internationally
- Geography: tied for 3rd place nationally, ranked 101–150 internationally
- Anatomy and Physiology: tied for 3rd place nationally, ranked 101–200 internationally
- Agriculture and Forestry: 5th place nationally, tied for 89th place internationally
- English Language and Literature: tied for 5th place nationally, ranked 101–150 internationally
- Modern Languages: tied for 5th place nationally, ranked 101–150 internationally
- Classics and Ancient History: tied for 6th place nationally, ranked 51–150 internationally
- Linguistics: tied for 6th place nationally, ranked 101–150 internationally
- Environmental Sciences: tied for 6th place nationally, ranked 151–200 internationally
- Philosophy: tied for 7th place nationally, ranked 51–100 internationally
- Law and Legal Studies: tied for 7th place nationally, ranked 151–200 internationally
- Medicine: 8th place nationally, tied for 175th place internationally
- Archaeology: tied for 9th place nationally, ranked 151–200 internationally
- Biological Sciences: 10th place nationally, tied for 113th place internationally
Methodology
The rankings are based on the five indicators ‘Academic Reputation’, ‘Employer Reputation’, ‘Citations per Paper’, H-Index (a measure of the productivity and impact of published work) and ‘International Research Network’.
The indicators are weighted differently in the individual departments and their subjects. Not all indicators are considered in all subject rankings; some subject rankings are based on fewer than the five indicators listed above.
ShanghaiRanking’s Global Ranking of Academic Subjects
Results of the current ranking
The GRAS 2025 rankings cover 57 subjects from the natural sciences, engineering, life sciences, medicine and social sciences, in which the University of Freiburg is represented in 31 disciplines. Only a limited number of universities are listed, which varies from subject to subject. This year, the ranking includes approximately 2,000 universities from 100 countries and regions.
There are national and international top rankings in the following subjects:
- Robotic Science and Engineering: Ranked 38th internationally, 2nd nationally
- Medical Technology: Ranked 46th internationally, 7th nationally
- Ecology: Ranked 49th internationally, 3rd nationally
- Biomedical Engineering: Rank group 76th to 100th internationally, 1st to 2nd nationally
- Dentistry and Oral Sciences: Rank group 76th to 100th internationally, 2nd to 7th nationally
- Geography: Ranked 2nd to 4th nationally
- Agricultural Sciences: Ranked 4th to 8th nationally
- Clinical Medicine: Ranked 5th to 8th nationally
Methodology
The ranking is based on a total of nine indicators in the five evaluation categories ‘World-Class Faculty’, ‘World-Class Output’, ‘High Quality Research’, ‘Research Impact’ and ‘International Collaboration’. The weighting of the indicators varies between the individual subjects.
