News: University of Regensburg Maintains Strong Position in QS World University Rankings 2027

The University of Regensburg (UR) has successfully maintained its strong position in the QS World University Rankings 2027, placing 696th worldwide after ranking 691st in the previous edition. Among German universities, UR ranks 39th. This result is particularly noteworthy given the increasing level of international competition and the growing number of universities: A total of 8,808 higher education institutions were evaluated for the 2027 rankings—341 more than in the previous year. Of these, 94 institutions entered the rankings for the first time.

“The University of Regensburg’s ability to maintain its position in the highly competitive global environment sends a strong signal,” said University President Prof. Dr. Udo Hebel. “We are especially proud to have further improved our performance in key areas such as research performance, sustainability and global engagement. The results demonstrate the impact of our strategic measures and that the University of Regensburg is visible and attractive on the international stage.”

The QS World University Rankings are among the most influential and widely recognized university rankings worldwide. They assess institutions across five broad indicators, including research and discovery, employability and outcomes, learning experience, global engagement and sustainability. For the 2027 edition, 8,808 institutions were analyzed, of which 1,504 were included in the final ranking.

The University of Regensburg improved its performance across the majority of all indicators. Particularly encouraging is its continued progress in the sustainability indicator, where the university now ranks among the top 700 institutions worldwide. The university also achieved stronger results in the research and discovery indicator, which accounts for 50 percent of the overall score. Improvements were recorded both in citations per faculty member and in academic reputation. Further gains were made in global engagement, with higher scores in both the International Research Network and the proportion of international researchers compared to the previous year.

The rankings are based on bibliometric data from more than 21 million scientific publications and 222 million citations. In addition, approximately 1.6 million nominations from academics and around 600,000 nominations from employers contributed to the assessment. Institutions may also submit selected institutional data directly to QS.
The University of Regensburg’s positive development in international rankings also highlights the impact of strategic initiatives implemented in recent years. These include the consistent implementation of its sustainability strategy, the establishment of strategic partnerships, and the centralized, strategic coordination of ranking activities across the university.