The 2021 Shanghai Ranking: France consolidates its position

Established by a team of experts from Shanghai Jiao-Tong University in 2003, the Shanghai Academic Ranking (Academic Ranking of World Universities, ARWU) is an annual ranking of the world's leading academic institutions. Of the 2,000 institutions whose scientific results are closely analyzed, only 1,000 institutions appear in this ranking, which usually favors Anglo-Saxon institutions, particularly those in the United States. According to the French Minister of Higher Education, who spoke at the publication of these results, "The excellence of French universities and the strength of their links with national research organizations allows France to maintain third place in the world behind the United States and the United Kingdom. 

University of Paris-Saclay confirms its world ranking

For France, the University of Paris-Saclay, which achieved a remarkable performance last year, came out on top among French institutions. In 2020, Paris-Saclay was the first French university to be included in the top 15 places in the ranking of the world's best institutions. This year, the University of Paris-Saclay has even moved up a rung to 13th place in the world and third in Europe.

Paris-Saclay is not the only university to appear in the Top 50, since it has been joined by two other French institutions. The list includes Sorbonne University, which has moved up four places to the 35th position, and PSL University (Paris Sciences & Lettres), which is in the 38th position.

Seventeen French institutions in the Top 500

A little further down in the ranking, we find the University of Paris, which comes in at 73rd place, completing the French Top 100 list, which includes four institutions in all.

Beyond that, in the Top 500, between 101st and 300th places, are seven universities located in various locations in France, such as the University of Aix-Marseille, the University of Grenoble-Alpes, the University of Strasbourg, the University of Montpellier, the University Claude Bernard Lyon 1, the University of Bordeaux and the University of Lorraine.

In ranks 300 to 500, there are six other institutions: Ecole Normale Supérieure de Lyon, the Polytechnic Institute of Paris, Paul Sabatier University - Toulouse 3, University of Toulouse 1, Côte d'Azur University and the University of Lille. Finally, there are 13 other French universities that rank between 301st and 1,000th place. In total, 30 French institutions are listed in the 2021 Shanghai ranking this year.

A methodology that emphasizes research

To establish this world-renowned ranking, the experts of Shanghai Jiao-Tong University adopted a methodology that focuses primarily on quantitative research criteria and much less on qualitative criteria of a more academic nature. The number of Nobel Prizes and Fields Medals are thus largely taken into account, as are the number of researchers cited in their fields and the number of publications in specialized journals.