Only Dutch Research universities take part in the worldwide university rankings held yearly by such organisations as the Shanghai University (ARWU), and QS and THE World University rankings and Leiden University ranking.

Universities of Applied Sciences usually participate in the national rankings issued by Dutch organisations.

Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU)

The ARWU ranking, also known as the Shanghai rankings, is the oldest ranking assessing the quality of academic universities world wide. The rankings are issued annually by more than 1000 universities. The best 500 are included in the ARWU ranking.

The first criteria of the ARWU ranking includes how many times the research articles of an university staff are issued or quoted (the citation index) in scientific journals like Nature and Science. The second criteria is the number of awards such as Nobel Prizes and Field Medals is received by academic staff and graduates.

Positions in the ARWU Ranking - 2012

In 2012 all research universities of Holland are included on the Top-500 list of the ARWU.

World University Ranking of QS and Times Higher Education (THE)

QS World University Ranking is based on the following indicators: academic (40%) and employer (10%) reputation, student amount per teacher (20%), citations per faculty (20%), amount of international staff and students (both 5%).  More detailed information about university positions in QS ranking per field of studies.

Times Higher Education (THE)  started publishing a new ranking with methodology developed in partnership with Thomson Reuters in 2010, known as the Times Higher Education World University Rankings. It is defined by the following factors: citations (30%), scope and research reputation (30%), teaching: student amounts per tutors and student reputation (30%), share of international students and teaching staff (7.5%), incomes from industry (2.5%).

Here you can view Dutch Universities ranked:

Times also publishes annual THE World Reputation Rankings of top 100 universities, based on invitation-only academic opinion survey. In 2013 five Dutch research universities made this top 100 with Delft University of Technology scoring the best result (in the group of 51-60th places). Other universities are: Leiden University (61-70), University of Amsterdam and Utrecht University (81-90), and Wageningen University and Research Center (91-100).

Leiden University ranking

The Leiden Ranking of the CWTS bases its rankings on how many times a scientific article, published in English, is cited by other scientists in international magazines. It takes into account the field, the size of the university or collaboration with other institutions.

See also rankings of universities of applied sciences.