Ranking’s 2024 Global Ranking of Academic Subjects: France shines with scientific disciplines

“This ranking confirms the leading position of our institutions in key disciplines for the future, such as mathematics – at the core of progress in artificial intelligence – physics, as well as health through pharmacy, and the environment.” These words from the French ministry of higher education and research congratulate France’s position in the latest ranking by subject from the Hiao Tong University in Shanghai. The object of this ranking by subject is to assess highere education institutions in their research activities using 55 subjects divided in five categories (engineering, natural sciences, life sciences, medical sciences, social sciences). In each category, institutions are ranked using “weighted criteria” taking into account the results, impact and quality of research, international cooperation and international academic awards granted to institutions.

France, champion in mathematics

This new detailed ranking, based on the general university ranking published last August, reveals 83 French higher education establishments that stand out in 55 disciplines. The rankings put France in 4th place, just behind China, the United States and the United Kingdom. 

Looking at the details, French institutions are better in mathematics. In the Top 50 for this discipline, four French institutions stand out thanks to their scores:

• Paris-Saclay University, ranked 2nd in the world;
• Paris Cité University (6th);
• Sorbonne University (11th);
• Paris Sciences & Lettres University (30th).

Mathematics is the category in which France has most institutions, with 29 institutions ranked.

More than 30 French Universities in the Top 100 

But more scientific categories show good results for France. This is the case for:

pharmaceutical sciences, for which Paris Cité University is ranked 6th in the world;

in disciplines related with ecology, with University of Montpellier is ranked 7th in the world;

• in physics, with Paris-Saclay University ranked 8th;
• in oceanography, for which Sorbonne University is ranked 8th;
• in mechanical engineering, France “is showing a strong increase, with 9 additional establishments present in the ranking, including INSA Lyon, which is now in the 25th place in the world”, declared the ministry.
• Finally, in Earth sciences, five French institutions are with in the Top 30 worldwide.

Looking at the rankings as a whole, 34 of the 83 institutions ranked appear in at least one of the Top 100:

• Paris-Saclay University stands out in 23 categories;
• Paris Cité University in 22;
• Sorbonne University and University of Grenoble Alpes in 10 categories each;
• Paris Sciences & Lettres University in seven.

More specifically, Paris Cité University, which has made significant progress, sets its own record: it is the first French university to be ranked in 41 different categories.

A confirmation of the French strategy

The ministry of higher education and research thinks that such results come from the “strong positioning of French institutions in the global competition”. The ministry adds that the ranking by subject confirms “site strategies deployed for more than 10 years to bring together national research organisations, engineering schools and business schools behind leading universities”. This grouping strategy is said to be necessary “to provide higher education and research at the best global level, in areas closely linked to the needs of the socio-economic world”. 

These successes, says the ministry, “are the result of a policy of transforming our R&D and significant investment in research, thanks to the French Research Programming Law, which core is preserved in the context of the draft budget for 2025, and at the French 2030 level”.