A red pen lies on a sheet of paper showing a multicoloured bar chart.

International Rankings

The University of Jena's current results in international rankings
A red pen lies on a sheet of paper showing a multicoloured bar chart.
Image: Jan-Peter Kasper (University of Jena)

TOP 9% globally

  • The Friedrich Schiller University of Jena ranks among the top 9 percent of universities worldwide.

    In the Times Higher Education World University Ranking 2026 (THE Ranking), the university confirms its position on rank 202 in the 201–250 ranking group among a total of 2,191 universities evaluated worldwide – and at the same time improves its position within Germany by two places to 19th out of 55 listed universities.
    The improvement in the “Industry” category (patents and third-party funding from industry) is particularly striking in the THE WUR 2026: here, the university climbs more than 120 places in the global comparison from 341st to 217th and achieves a new high with a score of 88.7 out of 100 points (previous year: 78 points).

    Panorama Jena
    Image: André Gräf (jenaparadies)

Outstanding positions in subject rankings: Ranked 8th in Ecology and 21 in Physics

  • In the subject ranking of the Shanghai Academic Ranking of World Universities (GRAS 2025),

    the University of Jena occupies an excellent 8th place (out of 32) in the field of ECOLOGY in a Germany-wide comparison. Worldwide, the University of Jena ranks 101-150 (out of 400).

    In THE Subject Ranking 2026, the University of Jena's position in the 11-13 range (out of 34) in Germany and 126-150 (out of 1211) worldwide also demonstrates its strengths in the field of life sciences.

    iDiv
    Image: iDiv

  • In the field of PHYSICS,

    the University of Jena ranks 21 (out of 35) in a Germany-wide comparison. Worldwide, the University of Jena ranks 201-300 (out of 500, GRAS 2025).

    In the THE Subject Ranking 2026, the University of Jena is listed in the Physical Sciences field in Germany in ranking group 13-14 (out of 50) and worldwide in ranking group 151-175 (out of 1497).

    Doctoral researchers in the microspectroscopy lab
    Image: Jan-Peter Kasper (University of Jena)

Ranked 14-18 in the field of psychology and ranked 10-13 in the social sciences

  • In the field of social sciences and humanities, the University of Jena scores highly in various areas

    PSYCHOLOGY
    - Ranked 14-18 (out of 44) in Germany and 151-200 (out of 500) worldwide in the field of psychology (Shanghai Global Ranking of Academic Subjects/ GRAS 2025) and
    - Ranked 17-19 (out of 31) in Germany and 201-250 (out of 694) in the THE Subject Ranking 2026.

    SOCIAL SCIENCES
    - 10-13 (out of 36) in Germany, 176-200 (out of 1202) worldwide (THE 2026)

    HUMANITIES
    The university is ranked in the 176–200 range (out of 817) in the THE Subject Ranking 2026.

    Social imagining as a network of humans and media
    Graphic: AI-generated (Adobe Stock)

Highly Cited Researchers List

The Highly Cited Researchers List ranks the most influential researchers worldwide. The list of the most cited researchers is compiled annually by Clarivate Analytics.

Currently, one researcher from the University of Jena is among the Highly Cited Researchers.

  • Bas Dutilh

    Bas E. Dutilh is Professor of Viral Ecology and Omics at the University of Jena and a member of the Cluster of Excellence "Balance of the Microverse", where he combines his work on virus discovery with his line of research on modeling the microbiome. Prof. Dutilh is fascinated by the ecological and evolutionary dynamics in the microbial world and works to understand the interactions of microbes with each other and their environment.

    Bioinformatician Prof. Dr Bas E. Dutilh.
    Image: Alexander von Humboldt-Stiftung/Elbmotion

The University of Jena is listed in various international university rankings:

  • Times Higher Education World University Ranking (THE WUR)
  • Quacquarelli Symonds World University Ranking (QS WUR)
  • Academic Ranking of World Universities (Shanghai ARWU)
  • Highly Cited Researchers List
  THE WUR 2026 THE WUR 2025 QS WUR 2025 Shanghai ARWU 2025
international 201-250 (of 2191) 201-250 (of 2092) 567 (of 1504) 401-500 (of 1000)
national 19 (of 55) 21 (of 50) 31 (of 60) 28-35 (of 51)

International university rankings such as THE, QS and the Shanghai Ranking evaluate universities worldwide on the basis of various indicators. However, depending on the method, orientation and choice of departments, they vary greatly and must be interpreted with caution when assessing the quality of a university.

The University of Jena also successfully participates in national rankings, including the CHE-Ranking de.

Explore our research profile