Since its first publication in 2003, the Shanghai classification has been asking the performance of global universities on objective criteria each year. Among them: the number of Nobel prizes and Fields medals (award in mathematics) won by former students and staff, the most cited researchers, as well as academic productivity by teacher.
In 2025, Harvard University retains its first place in the world with a perfect score. It is closely followed by Stanford University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), 2nd and 3rd respectively. The University of Cambridge (4th) and UC Berkeley (5th) complete the top 5, confirming American and British domination at the top of the ranking.
The University of Oxford is in 6th position, ahead of Princeton (7th), Columbia (8th), the California Institute of Technology (9th) and the University of Chicago (10th). This list reflects a high concentration of English -speaking establishments among the world’s leaders in research.
And the Belgians?
On the Belgian side, the Ku Leuven ranks 76th, confirming its status as a better university in the country according to this ranking. It is followed by the University of Ghent (Ugent) in 91st place.
First Belgian Francophone University in the ranking, the Free University of Brussels (ULB) is located in the 101st tranche at 150ththe classification does not provide specific details beyond the Top 100.
- 76E – KUL
- 91st – UGent
- Between 101 and 150 – ULB
- Between 201 and 300 – UCL
- Entre 301 et 400 – University of Antwerp
- Between 301 and 400 – VUB
- Between 401 and 500 Uliège
More than 2,500 universities are evaluated each year by ARWU, but only the best are published.
