KU Leuven Achieves 45th Position in THE World University Rankings

Higher education magazine Times Higher Education (THE) has published its annual World University Rankings. With its 45th place, KU Leuven holds its own in a rapidly changing university landscape and remains the first Belgian university in the ranking, the fourth university in the European Union and the first in the Benelux.

KU Leuven retains its place in the top 50 of 1000 ranked universities worldwide and remains the 12th university in Europe. Although it has moved up three places compared to last year, it has improved in score and remains the first Belgian university in the ranking by a wide margin.

THE bases this world ranking on a number of major indicators: education, research quality, research environment, internationalization and valorization. Education and research together determine the lion’s share of the score. In addition, a smaller part of the final score is based on the international character of an institution, on valorization or income from the business world and on the new pillar patents. 

The results of KU Leuven are in line with previous years. Its scores are improving in terms of education, research quality, internationalization and valorisation, but it maintains a status quo in terms of the research environment. China’s Shangai Jiao Tong University and Fudan University, France’s Université PSL and the American University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign also achieved a better score and therefore leapfrogged KU Leuven, forcing it to release some places. Conversely, KU Leuven itself jumps over the London School of Economics and Political Science.

THE uses a number of fixed parameters for each indicator. The results for these parameters are also in line with previous years. For example, the university achieves very good scores on the research-oriented parameters and the link with industry also scores very strongly, both for the new parameter patents and for income from the business world.