Internationational rankings
International academic rankings use a limited number of so-called quantitative bibliometric indicators to establish a hierarchy amongst the institutions under review (such as the number of citations received by researchers or the number of articles published in high-impact-factor journals), but few of them assess qualitative aspects such as the quality of teaching or the prestige of international partnerships. It is therefore important to carefully consider their methodologies depending on the reason for consulting these rankings.
With these caveats in mind, the University of Angers can take pride in now ranking alongside the best European and global institutions on indicators relating to its research performance, and excels particularly in certain key fields such as clinical medicine, Earth sciences and mathematics, as well as through its international outlook and the dissemination of its open-access publications. These excellent results highlight the dynamic and ambitious nature of academic research in Angers!
Last updated: October 2026
For any enquiries: recherche @ univ-angers.fr
UA rankings
ShanghaiRanking ARWU 2026
Results:
- #701–800 Worldwide
- #23 France
In a few words:
First published in 2003 by Shanghai Jiao Tong University, the Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU), or the “Shanghai Ranking”, has been produced by ShanghaiRanking Consultancy since 2009. It is based on data from the Web of Science. It compares institutions across six indicators, primarily focused on research: Nobel Prizes and Fields Medals awarded to alumni and staff, highly cited researchers, articles published in "Nature and Science", publications indexed in major citation databases, and performance relative to academic staff numbers. More than 2,500 universities are assessed each year, but only the top 1,000 are published.
Highlights:
- UA has re-entered the top 1,000 following its last appearance in 2020, when it was ranked in the #901–1,000 bracket.
- Its ranking within France has risen from the #28–30 bracket in 2020 to 23rd place in 2026.
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ShanghaiRanking Global Ranking of Academic Subjects 2026
Results:
- Clinical Medicine: #301–400 worldwide (#13–15 in France)
Earth Sciences: #301–400 worldwide (#24–25 in France)
Mathematics: #401–500 worldwide (#26 in France)
In a few words:
ShanghaiRanking has been publishing subject-specific rankings since 2009. These have been known as the Global Ranking of Academic Subjects (GRAS) since 2016. The 2026 edition covers 57 subjects across the natural sciences, engineering, life sciences, medicine and social sciences. The selection of institutions is based on a publication threshold specific to each subject. The results are based on indicators relating to academic staff, high-impact publications, research quality and impact, and international collaboration. Publications and citations are sourced primarily from Web of Science and InCites.
Highlights:
- UA appears for the first time in Mathematics, in the #401–500 global bracket.
- In Clinical Medicine, UA maintains its global ranking and improves its national ranking from the #14–16 bracket in 2025 to the #13–15 bracket in 2026.
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- Clinical Medicine: #301–400 worldwide (#13–15 in France)
THE World University Rankings 2027
Results:
- #1001–1200 World (out of 2,297 ranked institutions)
- #31 France (out of 50)
- Overall score: 33.3–36.3/100
In a few words:
Times Higher Education has been publishing a world university ranking since 2004, initially in collaboration with QS, and then using its own methodology since 2010. The 2027 edition assesses research institutions based on 17 indicators across five pillars: teaching, research environment, research quality, international outlook and industry engagement. The data combines institutional self-reports, academic reputation surveys, and publications and citations from Scopus. The first three pillars together account for 88.5 per cent of the score, compared with 7.5 per cent for international outlook and 4 per cent for industry engagement. Precise rankings are published up to 300th place. Beyond that, institutions are grouped into bands.
Highlights:
- Research quality has risen from 51.1/100 in 2026 to 54.4 in 2027 (+3.3 points).
- International outlook, the UA’s highest-scoring pillar, reached 71.3/100, compared with 70.1 in 2026 and 64.8 in 2025.
- The industry pillar rose from 58.6/100 in 2026 to 58.9 in 2027.
- Since its first participation in 2025, UA has moved up one global band: from #1201–1500 to #1001–1200 in 2027.
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THE Sustainability Impact Ratings 2026
Results:
- Overall ranking: #1001–1500 worldwide; Score 50.6/100
- SDG 3 (Good Health and Well-being): #401–600 worldwide
- SDG 7 (Energy): #601–800 worldwide
- SDG 10 (Inequality): #301–400 worldwide
- SDG 13 (Climate): #401–600 worldwide
- SDG 17 (Partnerships): #1001–1500 worldwide
In a few words:
Launched in 2019 as THE Impact Rankings, this ranking was renamed Sustainability Impact Ratings from the 2025 edition onwards. It measures universities’ contribution to the United Nations’ 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) based on data relating to their research, teaching, management and actions in the service of society. Each SDG is assessed in a separate table. For the annual overall result, THE combines SDG 17 with the institution’s three best scores across the other SDGs; the overall score published for 2026 also takes into account the previous year’s result. Institutions submit supporting evidence through an annual survey.
Highlights:
- The overall score rises from 48.7 in 2025 to 50.6 out of 100 in 2026.
- UA gains a global ranking band for SDGs 10 (from #401–600 to #301–400), 13 (from #601–800 to #401–600) and 7 (from #801–1000 to #601–800).
- The score for SDG 3 stands at 59.8/100, compared with 58.9 in 2025.
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CWTS Leiden Ranking 2025
Results:
Traditional edition (Web of Science),default settings
- #1269 Worldwide
- #398 Europe
- #25 France
Scientific impact: #619 Worldwide (#19/34 in France)
Collaboration between institutions: #55 Worldwide (#16/34 in France)
Open access: #163 Worldwide (#9/34 in France)
Proportion of "gold" open-access publications: #1 in France
In a few words:
Established in 2007 by the Centre for Science and Technology Studies at Leiden University, the CWTS Leiden Ranking provides detailed bibliometric indicators without a single composite score. The standard 2025 edition uses publications from the Web of Science and measures scientific impact, collaborations, open access and gender diversity. The results can be viewed by discipline, geographical region, time period, counting method and indicator. The ranking therefore depends on the parameters selected: the impact results presented here relate to the proportion of publications among the top 10 per cent most cited, using whole-number counting. A separate open edition using data from OpenAlex will replace the traditional edition from 2027 onwards.
Highlights:
- In the overall ranking by default, UA moves up from 27th to 25th place in France.
- For open-access publications, UA rises from 21st to 9th place in France (overall proportion) and from 25th to 1st place in France for the "gold" route.
- In mathematics and computer science, the proportion of publications among the top 10 per cent most cited places UA in 13th place out of 34 in France (compared with 19th in 2024).
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