The Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń is one of nine universities in Poland listed in this year's Academic Ranking of World Universities. The world's oldest ranking of universities classifies the top 1,000 universities in the world.
The Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU), referred to as the Shanghai ranking, is considered the forerunner of global rankings. Of the 2,500 universities ranked, a ranking of the top 1,000 is published. The ARWU ranking is prepared by the Institute of Higher Education at Shanghai Jiao Tong University (hence the name 'Shanghai ranking').
In this year's list, the Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń was ranked in the tenth hundred (places 901-1000) together with Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań, Gdansk University of Technology, Warsaw Medical University and Warsaw University of Technology. Jagiellonian University and the University of Warsaw were also included in the ranking (range 401-500), as well as the AGH University of Science and Technology and the Medical University of Wrocław (801-900).
Three American universities made it to the podium of the world ranking: Harvard University, Stanford University and Massachussets Institute of Technology.
The ranking takes into account the scientific and research achievements of universities. The creators of the ARWU ranking factor in, among other things, international scientific successes, the number of graduates and staff who have been awarded the Nobel Prize or the Fields Medal, the number of most frequently cited scientists, the number of publications in the prestigious journals Nature and Science, the number of publications listed in selected citation indices (Science Citation Index - Expanded and Social Sciences Citation Index) etc.