Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń has maintained its position among the world’s leading academic institutions, ranking among the top 1,000 universities in the Academic Ranking of World Universities. This year, the oldest global university ranking includes seven Polish higher education institutions.
The Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU), commonly known as the Shanghai Ranking, is regarded as the precursor of global university rankings. It was first published in July 2003. More than 2,500 universities are assessed, with the top 1,000 included in the published ranking. Exact positions are assigned only to the world’s top 100 universities, while the remaining institutions are ranked in bands of 50 or 100.
The ranking is based on six objective indicators, including the number of alumni and staff who have received Nobel Prizes and Fields Medals, the number of articles published in the journals Nature and Science, and the lists of Highly Cited Researchers compiled by Clarivate. The ARWU ranking is prepared by the Institute of Higher Education at Shanghai Jiao Tong University—hence the name “Shanghai Ranking.”
In 2026, ARWU includes seven Polish universities. As in the previous year, Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń was ranked in the 901–1000 band. Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań, Warsaw University of Technology and Wrocław University of Science and Technology were also placed in this band. The highest-ranked Polish institutions are the University of Warsaw (401–500), Jagiellonian University (501–600) and AGH University of Krakow (701–800).
The top three positions in the global ranking remain unchanged and are occupied by three US universities: Harvard University, Stanford University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. A total of 37 US higher education institutions were included in the top 100.
It is also worth noting that in the Global Ranking of Academic Subjects, published in November 2025 as part of the Shanghai Ranking, Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń was ranked in three disciplines: statistics, mathematics and physics. Statistics, represented by the Faculty of Mathematics and Computer Science, achieved the best result, placing in the 201–300 band. NCU is the only Polish university ranked in this discipline.
Mathematics, also pursued at the same faculty, was ranked in the 401–500 band, with NCU being one of five Polish universities included in this category. The University was also listed among the leading institutions in physics, which—like mathematics—was ranked in the 401–500 band. This result placed the discipline, pursued at the Faculty of Physics, Astronomy and Informatics, in the 4–6 band among Polish universities.
Source: Portal Information NCU