Copenhagen the fifth best non-Anglo university in the world

The University of Copenhagen (UCPH) is the fifth best university in the world from a non-English speaking country (fourth if you define Canada as ‘anglo’). And it is the second best institution among the countries of continental Europe – surpassed only by the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich (ETH). This is according to the 2015 Shanghai ranking, the ARWU or Academic Ranking of World Universities.

UCPH ranks 35th among the world’s universities on the just released ranking, up four spots from last year, and continuing an upward trend since the ranking started in 2003. International rankings tend to favour English-speaking universities for a number of reasons, including methodological ones.

The University of Copenhagen has been gradually moving up ever since the ranking started. (Graphic from ARWU site)

It is within the broader subject fields of Life Sciences and Science that UCPH does well on the 2015 ranking. UCPH is at 39th in the broader area of life sciences and in the 51-75 group in science. As for specific subject area, the University of Copenhagen is mentioned as 51-75 in the world in the areas of physics and in the subject area of computer science.

United States dominates the field

The ARWU uses six indicators to rank world universities, including the number of alumni and staff winning Nobel Prizes and Fields Medals, the number of cited researchers, and the amount of published articles, all according to the size of the institution.

The United States dominates the top of the ARWU world ranking with a repeat top ranking to Harvard, followed by Stanford second, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

Aarhus University, the other large Danish university institution, moved up to 73rd from 74th.

See the full rankings on the ARWU rankings site here.

universitypost@adm.ku.dk

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