French university Paris-Saclay surges up global rankings
France's Paris-Saclay has emerged as the highest-ranked European university in the 2024 Shanghai Ranking, placing 12th overall. Meanwhile American universities, led by Harvard, have once again claimed the top spots.
This year's Shanghai Ranking has placed French universities in the spotlight, with Paris-Saclay achieving the highest ever score for a French institution.
The move, praised by President Emmanuel Macron, reflects the growing international recognition of French academic standards.
France now has 25 universities in the global top 1,000, with 18 in the top 500. Notable movers include Université Paris Sciences Lettres, up to 33rd place, the Sorbonne at 41st, and Paris City University, which climbed to 60th.
Aix-Marseille, Strasbourg, and Grenoble Alpes also feature in the top 150.
Macron credits these improvements to recent reforms and investments in French higher education, including the Research Programming Law and the France 2030 initiative.
More than 2,500 institutions were evaluated to determine the global top 1,000.
Read more on RFI English
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