This year, 27 French universities are included in the ranking of the best in the world. Among them, the University Côte d’Azur located in the Alpes-Maritimes climbs up by a hundred places.
The University Côte d’Azur makes a significant advance. It climbs up by a hundred places and enters the top 500 of the best universities worldwide. Christian Estrosi, mayor of Nice, emphasizes “a progression that reflects the quality of teaching, research initiatives, and the dedication of its members.”
The subjects at the top of its ranking are mathematics, physics, and earth sciences. It is part of the (401-500) bracket, like that of Rennes. Among French institutions, the university from the Côte d’Azur is positioned behind the University of Toulouse Capitole, but notably ahead of the University Clermont-Auvergne.
In the Bouches-du-Rhône region, the University Aix-Marseille regresses and ranks among the top 200. It drops from the (101-150) bracket to the (151-200) bracket. Oceanography is evaluated as the best subject there, ahead of mathematics and physics.
18 French universities in the top 500
This ranking published on August 15 is established by the Shanghai Ranking Consultancy organization. Since 2003, it ranks the top 1,000 in the world after reviewing 2,500. 27 French universities are part of the ranking, which is one fewer this year. However, there are three more in the top 500, composed of 18 French universities.
While the entirely Anglo-Saxon top 10 remains unchanged, with Harvard at the top of the ranking, France arrives in 15th position with the University Paris-Saclay. This university gains one place compared to last year.
What criteria?
The institutions are ranked according to an index that considers six specific quantitative criteria. Indeed, the number of publications in the Anglo-Saxon scientific journals Nature and Science (20% of the overall score), the number of cited researchers (20%), the number of scientific Nobel Prizes and Fields Medals awarded to alumni and teacher-researchers (30%), the number of articles indexed in the Science Citation Index-Expanded and Social Science Citation Index (20%) and the academic performance of professors (10%)
The criteria chosen by the Chinese organization are essentially based on research and not on education. Student success rates or the quality of teaching are, for example, not considered. Moreover, only the so-called hard sciences are valued, as social sciences are not included in the evaluated criteria.
