QS Europe 2025: four French institutions in the Top 100

The Quacquarelli Symonds Europe 2025, created from the general and worldwide ranking published recently, uses the same criteria as its predecessor. To create the ranking, QS uses various indicators, such as academic reputation, employability reputation, the institution’s international research network, and four criteria in relation with international mobility: the diversity of international students welcomed, the international professor’s ratio, the rate of incoming foreign students, and the rate of students in exchange programme abroad.

Four institutions in the Top 100

The 49 French institutions in the ranking include 44 universities, three schools of engineering, an advanced school and a political studies institute.

Four institutions are in the Top 100 and one in the Top 10. They are: 

• PSL (Paris Sciences & Lettres) University at 9th position;
• Institut Polytechnique de Paris (23th); 
• Paris-Saclay University (30th);
• Sorbonne University (31rd);

10 institutions ranked in the Top 200

In addition to the first four, in the Top 200 are 10 additional French institutions located all over France. They are:

• Paris 1 - Panthéon-Sorbonne University (103th, up 6 ranks);
• Grenoble Alpes University (125th);
• Ecole des Ponts ParisTech (132th);
• Ecole Normale Supérieure de Lyon (142th);
• Paris Cité University (154th);
• Sciences Po Paris (161th);
• Strasbourg University (163th);
• Aix-Marseille University (164th);
• University of Bordeaux (182th);
• University of Montpellier (198th).

26 institutions in the Top 500

An additional 26 institutions are present in the Top 500 of the QS Europe 2025. More precisely, seven institutions are present between the 200th and 300th ranks:

• INSA de Lyon (school of engineering, 218th);
• University of Toulouse 3- Paul Sabatier (233th);
• University of Lille (249th);
• University of Lyon 1 - Claude Bernard (251th);
• University of Lorraine (275th);
• University of Côte d’Azur (276th);
• University of Rennes (296th).

And 19 additional universities are between rank 300 to 500: Nantes University, Sorbonne Paris Nord University, University of Franche-Comté, University of Toulouse 1 - Capitole, University of Paris 2 - Panthéon-Assas, CY Cergy Paris University, University of Lyon 2 - Lumière, University of Caen Normandie, University of Toulouse 2 - Jean Jaurès, University of Paris Nanterre, University of Poitiers, University of Valenciennes, University of Bretagne Occidentale, University of Lyon 3 - Jean Moulin, Paul Valéry - Montpellier University, Gustave Eiffel University, Jean Monnet - Saint-Etienne University, University of Avignon and University of Limoges.

And closing the ranking are still (from rank 500 to 601) nine more institutions: the Universities of Orléans, Angers, Bretagne Sud, Maine, Toulon, Rennes 2, Troyes, of Côte d’Opale, and the INSA Strasbourg.