Best universities for international students in the world

Worldwide, there are around 18,000 universities. In international rankings, these institutions from around the world are compared with each other on the basis of research, education and reputation. Although there are distinct emphases, the main international rankings collectively provide an approximation of each university’s performance. Radboud University is one of the world’s leading universities.

The results of the most important international rankings are included in the ranking dashboard. This dashboard enables you to compare the performance of Radboud University with universities worldwide.

To the rankings dashboard

ARWU/Shanghai ranking (Academic Ranking World Universities Ranking)

The Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU/Shanghai ranking) is compiled by Shanghai Jiao Tong University and primarily focuses on the assessment of leading scholars (Nobel Prize winners and highly cited researchers) and the number of publications (total number of publications and the number of papers in the Nature and Science publications).

• Find out more about the Academic Ranking of World Universities.

QS ranking (Quacquarelli Symonds Ranking)

The QS World University Ranking is compiled by the Quacquarelli Symonds research organisation. Reputation scores (obtained from surveys carried out among academics and employers) determine 50% of this ranking, while 20% is determined by both citations and staff/student ratios respectively and the final 10% is determined by international staff and students. The staff and student data for this ranking is supplied by the universities.

• Find out more about the QS World University Ranking.

THE ranking (Times Higher Education Ranking)

The THE World University Ranking is published by the Times Higher Education Supplement and compiled by Scopus. This ranking measures a wide range of variables, including education, research and income. One third of the ranking is determined by the reputation score (obtained from a survey carried out among academics), while the remaining two thirds are determined by the number of citations and several different indicators, such as staff/student ratios, income and international staff and students. Each year, universities provide data on the numbers of students, staff and income.

• Find out more about the THE World University Ranking.

THE Impact ranking

The THE Impact ranking, which has existed since 2019, assesses the participating universities on the basis of their contribution to Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). In order to be included in the ranking, each institution must provide information on no less than four SDGs, which must include SDG 17 (Partnership for the Goals). This information is subsequently assessed by THE and, in addition to a ranking for each SDG, an overall ranking is also given; the scores for the four best SDGs count towards this overall ranking. 

In 2022, Radboud University achieved a score of 73.6 (out of 100) points. This is an above-average score, which resulted in a placing at the top end of the middle bracket between 301-400 of the 1406 participating universities

• Find our more about the THE Impact ranking.

CWTS Leiden Ranking

The Centre for Science and Technology Studies (CWTS) of Leiden University has developed a ranking based on bibliometric methods. This ranking focuses entirely on the scientific performance of universities. Universities that have at least 800 Web of Science indexed scientific publications in the past four years are ranked. The ranking consists of several indicators, which allow the performance of the universities to be assessed/ranked from different perspectives, such as the number of publications (P), the number of publications that, compared to other publications in the same field and year, belong to the top 10% most cited publications (P(top 10%)) and the percentage share of these publications (PP(top 10%)). It is also possible to look at collaboration, open access and gender.

Find out more about the CWTS Leiden Ranking