The university climbed 45 places in this year’s assessment, moving from an estimated 523rd to 478th position and becoming the third-highest-ranked Portuguese university.

It is the first time since 2023 that Coimbra has made the top 500 and only the second time it has achieved the position since 2017.

The Shanghai Ranking does not publish individual positions for universities outside the top 100, instead it places them into ranking bands. Coimbra therefore officially appears in the 401-500 group, although its underlying results put its estimated position at 478.

A significant part of the improvement came from an increase in Coimbra’s score for highly cited researchers, reflecting the international reach of the university's research.

International grounds

The Shanghai Ranking is considered one of the world’s most rigorous university assessments and places a particular emphasis on scientific research.

More than 2,500 higher education institutions are evaluated each year, with 1,000 ultimately included in the published ranking.

Universities are assessed using six measures, including highly cited researchers, papers published in Nature and Science, articles indexed in major scientific databases and academic performance per member of staff. Nobel Prizes and Fields Medals awarded to alumni and academic staff also contribute heavily to the results.

Coimbra scored in four of the six categories, achieving its strongest result for the number of articles indexed in the Science Citation Index Expanded and Social Sciences Citation Index.

The university’s return to the Shanghai top 500 follows encouraging results in two other major international rankings. Coimbra has also placed within the top 500 of the Times Higher Education World University Rankings and this year achieved its best result to date in the QS World University Rankings, reaching 342nd place.

Academic institution

University rector Amílcar Falcão said rankings are not the institution’s primary objective but provide an indication of the work being carried out.

“We don’t work directly for rankings, but rankings are a reflection of the work we do,” he said, describing the latest result as recognition of Coimbra’s academic and scientific output and an incentive to continue improving.

Founded in 1290, the University of Coimbra is one of the oldest universities in Europe and remains one of Portugal’s most internationally recognised academic institutions. Its historic university buildings have formed part of a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2013.

The Academic Ranking of World Universities is published annually by ShanghaiRanking Consultancy and has been produced since 2003.