The 2024 edition of the Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU) has just been released. ARWU is one of the three globally recognized university rankings, alongside Times Higher Education (THE) and Quacquarelli Symonds (QS). Based on its aggregated results across these rankings, the University of Szeged has consistently been one of the leading Hungarian universities for years.

The University of Szeged has now secured the top position among Hungarian universities in the latest international ranking, with only four Hungarian institutions included this year, too. In 2024, the University of Szeged was ranked in the 401–500 range, a significant rise of several hundred places from its previous position in the 701–800 range.

International experts evaluated the educational and scientific achievements of over 2,500 higher education institutions, leading to the publication of a list of the world’s top 1,000 universities. This ranking is based on several objective indicators of excellence, including the quality of education, the professional recognition of faculty members, researchers, and alumni (such as Nobel Prizes or Fields Medals), research output, the number of indexed papers, and per capita academic performance.

“The University of Szeged, as a prestigious institution of higher education, is proud to have Nobel Laureates Albert Szent-Györgyi (1937) and Katalin Karikó (2023) among its distinguished members. Professor Szent-Györgyi was awarded the Prize while conducting his research here in Szeged, and Professor Karikó, an esteemed alumna, currently serves as a professor at the University of Szeged,” said Prof. Dr. László Rovó, Rector of the University of Szeged.

“We improved our academic performance across nearly all the objective indicators in the ARWU rankings. These results demonstrate that the University of Szeged prioritizes institutional excellence as a core value. This is achieved through collaboration and extensive partnerships with leading international and Hungarian researchers, an interdisciplinary approach, significant contributions to education, research, arts, and healthcare, as well as active community engagement.”

The top ten universities are all institutions from the US and the UK, with Harvard University topping the list, followed by Stanford University and MIT in second and third place, respectively.

According to the ARWU ranking, several renowned EUGLOH (European University Alliance for Global Health) partner universities are ranked among the top 150 universities in the world, including Université Paris-Saclay, LMU München, and Lund University. This partnership is invaluable for enhancing the excellence of the University of Szeged in terms of academic and research cooperation, as reflected in its continually improving performance in global rankings.

The complete list of global ranking results is available here: Academic Ranking of World Universities 2024