57th place in the Times Higher Education Ranking

Bielefeld University has again been rated among the world's best young universities in the latest “THE 100 Under 50”. The East Westphalian university takes 57th place in the ranking, which was published on Wednesday evening (29/4/2015). Since 2012, the “Times Higher Education” (THE), a British magazine for higher education, has been comparing the world’s leading universities founded less than 50 years ago.

Founded in 1969, Bielefeld University excelled in the comparison especially in respect of its researchers’ academic publications: they are cited particularly often. The university also fares well regarding the proportion of international students, teaching staff and researchers, as well as international collaborative research.

Only seven German universities made it into the ranking. On a national level, Bielefeld University ranks fifth in the comparison of universities – behind Ulm University, the University of Konstanz, the University of Bremen, and Ruhr University Bochum. They are followed by the University of Duisburg-Essen and the University of Bayreuth.

The “THE 100 Under 50” ranking is considered an internationally influential comparison of universities. Universities are weighed against one another using 13 assessment criteria, including their performance in research and teaching, innovativeness, citations and international outlook. The comparison of young universities complements the “World University Ranking”, in which academic reputation is weighted heavily. Long-established universities often attain better rankings than their younger rivals, which first have to gain a reputation. To better illustrate the current and future potential of these “rising stars”, the THE has been conducting a separate ranking for them since 2012. Whereas the weighting of academic reputation is lower, the other evaluation criteria remain the same.