Ranking of universities in France in 2024: the best French universities

What are the best French universities in 2024? This is the question that Times Higher Education (THE), QS and ShanghaiRanking try to answer every year with their rankings of the best universities in the world. This year again, French establishments are well represented and can even boast of having moved up a few places. Zoom on these different rankings!

Each year, the rankings of the best universities in the world provide an overview of the quality of French institutions, but also of their place compared to their international competitors. In addition to helping you choose the right university for you, it allows you to learn more about how the best French universities can compete on the world stage. From these rankings, we have isolated certain establishments in order to produce a ranking of the best universities in France in 2024.

The Business Cool ranking of the best French universities in 2024

As with the ranking of the best universities in the world, we have produced a super ranking of the best universities in France, based on data from THE (Times Higher Education), ShanghaiRanking and QS. To do this, we have only kept the universities which appear in the three rankings of the best French universities. In the event of a tie, we used the QS world rank to decide between establishments. Indeed, QS is the only one to assign a fixed rank for universities and not a range, unlike THE or ShanghaiRanking.

Discover without further delay the Business Cool ranking of the best French universities in 2024:

Rank BC	University	QS World Rank	Rank France THE	Rank France SR	Rank France QS	Average rank France
1	PSL University	24	1	2	1	1.33
2	Paris-Saclay University	71	2	1	4	2.33
3	Sorbonne University	59	4	3	3	3.33
4	Paris-Cité University	236	5	4	7	5.33
5	IP Paris	38	3	13	2	6.00
6	ENS Lyon	184	6	9	5	6.67
7	Grenoble Alpes University	294	7	5	8	6.67
8	University of Montpellier	382	7	6	11	8.00
9	Aix-Marseille University	387	7	6	12	8.33
10	Claude Bernard Lyon 1 University	452	12	9	15	12.00

THE ranking of the best universities in France in 2024

Now that you have discovered the Business Cool ranking of the best French universities in 2024, we suggest you take a look at France’s position in each of the major international rankings, starting with that of Times Higher Education. THE rankings focus in particular on research, but also on student supervision and the presence of doctoral students in universities across the globe.

Methodology for ranking the best universities in France according to THE in 2024

To produce its list of the best universities in the world, and therefore in France, THE is based on several criteria subdivided into several categories. The objective is to have a global vision of the establishment and to measure the impact of its research in its country, but also in the world.

Teaching (learning environment): 29.5%

Reputation: 15%
Doctoral student-academic staff ratio: 5.5%
Staff-student ratio: 4.5%
Doctoral student-bachelor student ratio: 2%
Institutional income: 2.5%

Research (quantity, revenue and reputation): 20%

Reputation: 18%
Income: 5.5%
Productivity: 5.5%

Citations (influence of research), a criterion which is worth 30% and calculates the number of citations to research by media, books, scientific journals or international researchers.

International openness (staff, students, research): 7.5%

Proportion of international students: 2.5%
Share of international staff: 2.5%
International collaboration: 2.5%

The relationship with the economic world: 4%

Income from the economic world: 2%
Patents: 2%

These different criteria therefore make it possible to rank the best French universities in 2024. Certain institutions may have been excluded from the ranking if they did not sufficiently meet the criteria, such as that of research: a university must have shared at least 1,000 publications, of which at least least 150 per year.

The best French universities in 2024 according to THE

THE only ranks the top 200 universities in the world. Beyond that, universities benefit from a rank range and do not display any score. For the purposes of this ranking of the best universities in France, we have assigned a position corresponding to the rank range mentioned by THE. Here are the top 5:

Rank BC	Rank THE	University	THE score
1	40	PSL University	78.5
2	58	Paris-Saclay University	74.4
3	71	IP Paris	71.3
4	75	Sorbonne University	70.5
5	152	Paris City University	61.9

To discover the rest of the winners, go to our dedicated article!

The best French universities in 2024: the ShanghaiRanking ranking

The Shanghai 2024 ranking has been released and it highlights the best universities in the world, but also the best French establishments. This year, four French universities are part of the top 100 in the ranking of the best universities in the world and we are observing widespread progression of French universities in 2024.

Today, it is mainly American establishments which monopolize the podium and the top of the ranking. However, 3 of the best French universities rank in the top 50. On the other hand, the Institut Polytechnique de Paris (or IP Paris), a group of Grandes Écoles whose objective was to enable greater international influence, misses its bet . Indeed, the institution ranks 13th among the best French universities, but well beyond 300th position internationally. It is behind the University of Lorraine, the University of Strasbourg or the University of Bordeaux.

Shanghai ranking methodology to evaluate the best French universities

The Shanghai ranking is based on several criteria to evaluate several thousand establishments around the world. Indeed, the ranking body assigns grades based on:

Quality of teaching: number of alumni who have obtained Fields medals or Nobel prizes (10%)
Quality of the teaching staff: number of professors having obtained a Fields medal or a Nobel Prize (20%) + presence of researchers cited in scientific journals (20%)
Research: Number of scientific articles published in Nature and Science (20%) and Number of papers indexed in the Science Citation Index Expanded and the Social Science Citation Index (20%)
Academic performance of institutions: 10%

The top 5 best French universities in 2024

ShanghaiRanking, also called the Shanghai Ranking, stands out for its exclusive approach by ranking only the top 100 universities in the world. For establishments beyond this threshold, similar to the THE ranking, a ranking range is assigned without displaying a precise score. To establish the ranking of the best French universities in 2024, we assigned a rank based on the ranking range communicated by ShanghaiRanking.

Ranking of the best French universities 2024: the QS list

Each year, QS unveils its ranking of the best universities in the world which highlights the best universities in France in 2024. The QS ranking is distinguished by its in-depth analysis of specific criteria which makes it possible to precisely target a university based on reputation. that it has on the international scene or with businesses.

Methodology for ranking the best universities in France by QS

This year, QS is full of new features since its ranking of the best universities in France highlights the sustainable development dimension or the employability of an establishment’s graduates. Here is the list of criteria and their weight in the ranking:

Academic reputation (30%)
Citation of research papers by teacher-researcher (20%)
Company reputation (15%)
Student-teacher-researcher ratio (10%)
Rate of international professors (5%)
Rate of international students (5%)
Network of international research partners (5%)
Employability (5%)
Sustainable development (5%)

QS 2024 ranking of the best French universities

Rank BC	Rank	University	Score
1	24	PSL University	85.8
2	38	IP Paris	79.5
3	59	Sorbonne University	71.7
4	71	Paris-Saclay University	67.6
5	184	ENS Lyon	47.6
6	192	École des Ponts ParisTech	46.7
7	236	Paris City University	41.1
8	294	Grenoble Alpes University	35.6
9	319	Sciences Po	33.2
10	328	University of Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne	32.6