THE World University Rankings is the most prestigious and recognizable ranking of higher education institutions in the world. It is also the only ranking which criteria cover all of the universities’ missions: teaching, research, knowledge transfer and international outlook.

On October 12, Times Higher Education, the creator of the rankings and a global leader in data analytics, released the latest edition of THE World University Rankings 2023. The table includes a total of 1,799 higher education institutions from 104 countries and regions.

Additionally, further 526 universities received “Reporter” status, meaning that they provided data for evaluation, but did not meet eligibility criteria to receive a rank. Due to the ever-increasing popularity of the ranking, over 210 universities more were included compared to the previous edition.

For this year’s ranking more than 2,500 institutions were evaluated. In preparing the ranking, Times Higher Education analysed, among other factors, over 121 million citations from 15.5 million research publications and the results of surveys conducted among 40,000 scientists around the world.

Global leading universities

First place in the ranking for the seventh consecutive year belongs to the University of Oxford. Second place goes to Harvard University, and the podium is rounded out by the University of Cambridge, which moved up from 5th place in the previous edition.

The University of Oxford also tops the research criterion, while Harvard University leads in terms of teaching. In terms of internationalization, on the other hand, Macau University of Science and Technology comes out on top.

The best ranking debut this year came from Humanitas University, a private university based in Milan, which earned a place in the 201-250 bracket.

Polish universities in THE World University Rankings 2023

In THE World University Rankings 2023, 34 universities from Poland were classified, including two private ones. This is a significant increase compared to the previous edition, in which 23 Polish universities were present. The upward trend is even more evident when looking at 2019 – that edition included only 12 Polish universities. Despite struggling with the pandemic, Polish universities sure have managed to achieve a lot since then.

This is not only a quantitative increase, but also a qualitative one. Among Polish universities, the leader is the Wroclaw Medical University, which achieved a very good place in the 351-400 group. This is the first time since 2015 that a Polish university has been in the Top 500.

Next on the podium were Jagiellonian University and the Medical University of Lodz, both ranked in the 601-800 bracket. The Medical University of Gdańsk and the University of Warsaw were ranked in the 801-1000 group. The next Polish universities were ranked in the 1001-1200 bracket, which included the Adam Mickiewicz University of Poznan, the Medical University of Bialystok and the SWPS University.

The next bracket 1201-1500 included: AGH University of Science and Technology in Krakow, University of Gdansk, Gdansk University of Technology, Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń, Opole University of Technology, Poznan University of Medical Sciences, Poznan University of Technology, Silesian University of Technology, Catholic University of Lublin, Warsaw University of Life Sciences, Warsaw University of Technology, University of Wrocław and Wrocław University of Environmental and Life Sciences.

The remaining Polish universities in the ranking are Bialystok University of Technology, Cracow University of Technology, University of Lodz, Maria Curie-Sklodowska University in Lublin, Medical University of Silesia in Katowice, Rzeszow University of Technology, SGH Warsaw School of Economics, University of Silesia in Katowice, University of Warmia and Mazury in Olsztyn and Wrocław University of Science and Technology, all ranked in the 1501+ group.

In addition, the Maritime University in Szczecin and the WSB University in Dabrowa Gornicza have been awarded “Reporter” status and have a good chance of entering the ranking in a future edition.

Polish universities with the best performance in each criteria

In the didactics area, the Wroclaw Medical University boasts the best score – 39.6 points (the maximum number of points in the criterion is 100). It is followed by the Medical University of Bialystok (37.1) and the University of Warsaw (26.8).

The University of Warsaw, in turn, leads in the research criterion (27.4 points), followed closely by Adam Mickiewicz University (25.3) and the University of Wroclaw (24). Moreover, the University of Wroclaw is the absolute leader in terms of citations with 89 points scored. Other top scorers in citations are the Medical University of Lodz (80.1) and the University of Warsaw (42.6).

In terms of cooperation with business, the best scores were achieved by the AGH University of Science and Technology (56.8 points), the Poznan University of Medical Sciences (46.7) and the Wrocław University of Science and Technology (45.5). Meanwhile, in terms of internationalization, University of Warsaw (43 points), University of Wroclaw (41) and Wroclaw Medical University (37.5) have the best scores. In turn, the WSB University can be proud of the largest number of foreign students – they account for as much as 33% of the number of people studying at WSB.

We strongly recommend reading the detailed results on THE website: https://www.timeshighereducation.com/world-university-rankings/2023/world-ranking

We congratulate the universities on their good results and wish them continuing success! We hope to break records again in the next edition and see even more of our universities in even higher positions!

Awards for Polish universities in THE World University Rankings 2023

During the LUMEN 2022 Conference, the first Award Gala for Polish universities ranked in THE World University Rankings 2023 will be held. Awards will be presented to the Rectors of the universities by THE representatives – Phil Baty, Chief Knowledge Officer, and Nicolas Cletz, Regional Director for Poland. THE experts will also present an in-depth analysis of the performance of Polish universities and provide a behind-the-scenes look at the creation of the rankings.

LUMEN 2022 will be held online November 22-23. Sign-up today for free at lumen.edu.pl and join us at LUMEN!