Rankings – facts and figures

University of Copenhagen: 5th best university in Europe

according to the CWTS Leiden Ranking.

What are rankings?

Each year a number of international rankings are published that seek to compare the World’s universities with each other. These rankings assess, among other things, the scope and quality of the universities' research and the quality of the teaching.

The University of Copenhagen has chosen primarily to follow four of the most influential rankings:

How does UCPH rank?

The University of Copenhagen is the highest-ranking university in Denmark and often the highest-ranking University in the Nordic Region.

The University of Copenhagen ranks among the top 1 percent of the World's universities.

University of Copenhagen's ranking by geographical region*

Ranking Denmark Nordic Region Europe  World
ARWU – Shanghai (2023) 1 1 7 32
CWTS Leiden Ranking** (2023) 1 1 5 42
QS – Quacquarelli Symonds (2024) 1 4 39 107
THE – Times Higher Education (2024) 1 3 34 103

*  The listed years are the years indicated in the rankings.
** Number of publications in the top 10 per cent of most cited publications.

How are rankings calculated?

The methods behind rankings varies and some rankings adjust their method annually. Despite their limitations, rankings have considerable influence on a university's international reputation.

Read more about the methods behind the four rankings that the University of Copenhagen follows:

  • Purely research-oriented and does not use reputation
  • Great emphasis on research indicators. Using Web of Science to calculate the number of citations, high level-publications and number of top one per cent most cited researchers. (70%)
  • ARWU does not include data from the Humanities
  • Emphasis on Nobel and Fields medals for employees/alumna (30%)

Read the entire method here

 

 

  • Great emphasis on reputation via questionnaires (50%)
  • Number of faculty are weighed in relation to the number of citations and number of students (40%)
  • International mix of academic staff and students is weighted (10%)
  • Uses the SCOPUS database for check of citations

Read the entire method here

 

 

Previous positions

University of Copenhagen has had a positive development in some rankings over the past ten years, while positions in other rankings have varied.

University of Copenhagen’s World rankings since 2010

Year QS THE Leiden ARWU
2024 107 103 - -
2023 82 114 42 32
2022 79 96 37 39
2021 76 84 33 30
2020 81 101 39 33
2019 79 116 36 26
2018 73 109 39 29
2017 68 120 41 30
2016 69 82 43 30
2015 45 160 49 35
2014 45 150 47 39
2013 - 130 52 42
2012 51 135 59 44
2011 52 177 62 43
2010 45 - - 40