The top 60 best universities in Germany: 2022 rankings

Top ranked universities in Germany

University	QS Ranking 2022	THE Ranking 2022	ARWU Ranking 2021
Technical University of Munich (TUM)	50	38	52
Heidelberg University	63	42	57
Ludwig Maximilians University Munich	64	32	48
Freie Universität Berlin	127	83	–
Humboldt University Berlin	128	74	–
Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT)	136	180	201
Technische Universität Berlin	159	139	201
RWTH Aachen University	165	108	201
University of Freiburg	172	108	101
University of Tübingen	177	78	151
Technische Universität Dresden	194	172	201
University of Göttingen	204	119	101
Universität Hamburg	214	132	201
University of Bonn	226	112	84
TU Darmstadt	269	301	501
University of Cologne	311	172	151
FAU Erlangen-Nürnberg	322	197	201
Goethe University Frankfurt	340	301	151
Friedrich Schiller University Jena	344	201	401
University of Stuttgart	347	301	301
Ulm University	365	146	301
University of Würzburg	378	165	201
Ruhr University Bochum	393	251	401
University of Münster	411	201	151
University of Mannheim	423	146	–
Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz	427	301	201
Saarland University	447	–	601
Leipzig University	447	–	201
Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg	461	–	501
Justus Liebig University	490	401	601
Kiel University	494	251	201
University of Konstanz	501	201	501
University of Bayreuth	521	351	701
Technische Universität Braunschweig	561	601	701
University of Bremen	571	351	501
University of Regensburg	591	601	501
Leibniz Universität Hannover	601	401	601
University of Hohenheim	601	197	901
University of Rostock	651	–	501
University of Marburg	701	401	401
University of Potsdam	701	251	401
Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf	751	251	301
TU Dortmund University	801	401	901
University of Duisburg-Essen	801	251	301
Bielefeld University	801	166	601
University of Siegen	1001	601	–
University of Wuppertal	–	601	901
University of Kaiserslautern	–	601	–
Hamburg University of Technology	–	601	–
Jacobs University Bremen	–	401	–
University of Passau	–	351	–
University of Greifswald	–	351	–
Ilmenau University of Technology	–	1001	–
University of Oldenburg	–	–	901
Osnabrück University	–	–	901
Leuphana University Lüneburg	–	–	901
University of Kassel	–	–	701
Universität zu Lübeck	–	–	701
University of Magdeburg	–	–	601
Hannover Medical School	–	–	501

Explained: How do the university rankings work?

The QS World University Rankings are among the most important, most-referenced rankings. The QS ranking relies heavily on its academic survey, asking thousands of academics worldwide about the reputation of universities.

The Times Higher Education World University Rankings (or the THE Rankings for short) compile a wide range of statistics. Equal weight is put on teaching quality, research excellence, and research impact through citations (meaning how often a university’s research is referenced elsewhere).

The Academic Ranking of World Universities by Shanghai Jiao Tong University (often just Shanghai Ranking, or ARWU) focuses on research output and quality, for example measured by the number of published and cited scientific papers and the number of staff or alumni winning the Nobel Prize or Fields Medal.

Study in Germany

For many international students, Germany is the ideal country to study abroad: World-leading universities, many English-language study options especially at the postgraduate level, and no tuition fees at public universities. For these reasons and more, every year around 100,000 students from around the world choose to come to Germany for their university education.