Teaching, research and contacts with industry: According to the authors of the worldwide "Times Higher Education" ranking ('THE'), German universities have improved on these points in the past year. At the top are - as every year - universities from Great Britain and the USA.
First place is held by Oxford University. In second place this year is the California Institute for Technology. LMU München is still the German leader with 23rd place. This is followed by the Technical University of Munich at number 43, as well as the University of Heidelberg, which rises from number 47 to 44.
Germany is again the third most representative country in the top 200. Especially noteworthy is the University of Bielefeld, which has made a jump from the 250th place to 16th place.
Controversial list
Once a year, the trade magazine sets the university ranking and selects the best universities worldwide. However, the ranking is controversial: The creators are accused that they would reward anyway already extremely well-funded universities.
Furthermore, according to the critics, they favored those universities that were better prepared for the indicators that are included in the ranking. Among other things, research and teaching, citations in the works of other scientists, internationality and the third-party funds that the universities attract from companies are evaluated.
Good feedback from the authors
A total of 48 German universities are among the top 600, 23 of them in the top 200: "It is a positive sign for Germany that so many of its institutes are in the top 200 of this year's ranking, especially in relation to international competition", explains Phil Baty, the spokesperson for the university ranking.
Friso Gentsch / picture alliance / DPA
View of buildings of the University of Bielefeld: The campus, founded in 1969, has more than 24,000 students
He agrees with his colleague Ellie Bothwell that the international prospects of German universities are still not optimal compared to Great Britain. Brexit could help here: "If the United Kingdom no longer has access to research funding from the European Union, Germany could It may also be easier for Germany to attract European students and researchers who may be studying or working in UK universities after Brexit, "explains Bothwell.
Overall, however, university rankings seem to have little influence on which university undergraduate students choose. According to a representative study by the University of Applied Sciences Europe, the placement of the desired university was a decisive criterion in the choice of university for only eight percent of the surveyed students.
In the university ranking, 92 countries are represented, new additions this year include Cuba, Malta, Puerto Rico and Vietnam. China once again performed well with the universities from Tsinghua (# 23) and Beijing (# 24).
Many Asian universities are catching up, according to Baty, "It has long been clear that emerging economies in Asia will play an increasingly important role in the global elite of higher education."