International rankings: France reaches top places

The release of international rankings has become a regular event throughout the year, with governments, the media and higher education institutions publishing and promoting them.  

France makes progress in general rankings

The Shanghai ranking

The Shanghai ranking was created in 2003 and is now one of the most eagerly awaited and recognised rankings in the academic world. It compares 1,000 higher education institutions on academic criteria, such as the number of Nobel Prizes and Fields Medals (past and present), the number of articles published in Nature and Science, and other reference indicators.

In 2021, France was ranked 3rd in the world in terms of the number of institutions in the top 50, with the Université Paris-Saclay 13th, Sorbonne Université 35th and Paris Sciences et Lettres (PSL) 38th. In total, thirty French institutions are ranked, including the University of Paris (73rd), and INSA Toulouse and Montpellier Business School, which entered the ranking in 2021.

The Times Higher Education ranking

Created in 2004, the THE ranking is based on several criteria: quality of teaching and research, citations, knowledge transfer to industry and international influence.

France is ranked 7th in the world, with a total of 39 institutions. They include 17 institutions in the Top 500, five in the Top 200, three in the Top 100 and one in the Top 50 (PSL, 40th).

France, leader of rankings of management schools

Since 2005, the Financial Times publishes a ranking of the best Master’s course in management (MiM). It is designed using 17 criteria, such as the wage of graduates and their potential growth, the globalisation of the school (globalisation of class, and student mobility), staff and students diversification (nationality, gender), and others. Some 21 French masters are distinguished, including eleven schools in the top 50, and four in the top 10: HEC Paris (2nd), followed by ESSEC (6th), ESCP (7th) and EDHEC Business School (10th).

The Financial Times also publishes a ranking of the best masters in finance (MiF), which illustrates French excellence, since the Top 5 in 2021 is 100% French: respectively, HEC Paris, ESCP Europe, SKEMA BS, ESSEC BS and EDHEC BS.

France improves its position in the thematic rankings

Thematic rankings are more recent than the generalist rankings, and they take into account a discipline or adopt a particular angle of analysis (the date of creation of the institution for example).

France is well positioned in the rankings of “young universities” (institutions under 50 years of existence). One French institution, PSL, is in first place in the Times Higher Education's “Young universities” 2022 ranking. Five French institutions appear in the top 20, with the Institut Polytechnique de Paris (6th), Sorbonne Université (12th), Université Paris-Saclay and Université de Paris (tied at 18th rank). 

France is also increasingly well represented in the thematic rankings by discipline. With two universities in the Top 5 (which was not the case in 2020) and six institutions in the Top 50 of the 2021 Shanghai thematic ranking, France confirms the excellence of its higher education, particularly in the field of mathematics education.

Recognition of the excellence of French higher education is also evident in terms of the employability of its graduates. With 18 institutions ranked, including 9 in the top 100 of the THE Global University Employability Ranking, France is ranked 2nd worldwide after the United States...and before Germany.

Brève #9 “France in international rankings”

Campus France explains the progress of France in international rankings over the last ten years in the 9th issue of the “Les Brèves” collection: the Shanghai ranking, the THE “world university ranking”, the QS “world university ranking”, etc.

Download Brève #9 (in French)

In a deliberately synthetic format, the “Brèves” focus on a specific aspect of international mobility.