On this page you will find an overview of leading rankings featuring the University of Twente.
The University of Twente (UT) appears in various national and international rankings. While rankings never tell the full story, they do offer insight into how UT performs in areas such as education, research, and societal impact.
Each ranking has its own specific focus and uses indicators that, in their view, reflect the quality and performance of a university.
Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU)
ARWU uses six indicators to rank universities, including: the number of alumni and staff who have won Nobel Prizes and other awards, the number of highly cited researchers selected by Clarivate Analytics, the number of scientific publications, the number of articles indexed in the Science Citation Index - Expanded and Social Sciences Citation Index, and the overall performance of a university.
UT’s position in 2025: 501–600 out of over 2.500 universities
CWTS Leiden ranking
The CWTS Leiden Ranking developed by the Centre for Science and Technology Studies (CWTS) at Leiden University, assesses universities worldwide based on scientific publications and citations. It uses objective data from the Web of Science database to measure research impact, collaboration, open access, and diversity.
UT’s position in 2025: 281 out of 1,594 universities, based on the PP top 10% indicator. This indicator shows the share of UT publications that belong to the 10% most cited scientific publications worldwide, per field. For UT, this share is 11.9%.
EngiRank
ENGIrank is a European ranking that focuses on engineering and technology universities. It uses objective data to assess performance in engineering education, research, innovation and international collaboration within the European Higher Education Area.
UT’s position in 2025: 17 out of 300 European engineering institutes
QS world university rankings
The QS World University Rankings annually assesses over 1,500 universities worldwide, based on both hard data (such as student-to-staff ratio, citations per faculty, and proportion of international students) and reputation surveys among academics and employers.
Overall ranking UT in 2025: 203 of over 1,500 universities
QS world university rankings: sustainability
This ranking highlights which universities are leading globally in social and environmental sustainability, assessing nearly 1,800 institutions on their ability to address major ESG challenges (Environmental, Social & Governance). It uses indicators that measure how institutions contribute to a more sustainable world through policy, research, education, and societal impact.
UT’s position in 2025: 146 of approximately 1,800 institutions
Times higher education impact ranking
The Times Higher Education Impact Ranking assesses universities wordwide on their contribution to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), with a focus on sustainability in policy, research, education, and societal impact.
UT’s position in 2025: ranked within the 401–600 band out of 2,526 universities worldwide
Number 1 position
Within this ranking, UT achieved a shared number one position for its contribution to Sustainable Development Goal 9, industry, innovation and infrastructure.
Times Higher Education World University Rankings
The Times Higher Education World University Rankings (THE) evaluates universities worldwide based on 18 indicators, divided across five main categories. It is one of the most comprehensive and internationally recognised lists, based on millions of citations, publications, and surveys among scientists worldwide:
- Teaching: quality of the learning environment, reputation, and student-to-staff ratio
- Research Environment: volume, income, and reputation of research
- Research Quality: impact and influence of scientific publications
- Industry Engagement: collaboration with businesses and knowledge transfer
- International Outlook: proportion of international students, staff, and collaborations
For UT, the scores for research quality (74.6), industry engagement (99.3), and international outlook (93.1) stand out as particularly high.
UT’s position in 2025: 180 of 2,092 universities from 115 countries
World University Ranking by subject: social sciences
This ranking uses the same trusted and rigorous performance indicators as the Times Higher Education World University Rankings, but the methodology has been recalibrated to suit the individual fields: communication and media studies, politics and international studies (including development studies), sociology and geography.
Overall ranking UT in 2023: 89 of 941 universities