University of Freiburg Gets Top Grades

Innovation Ranking 2017 put Freiburg at the top of the standings
CHE has given high marks for law, and economics and management, while Thomson Reuters has again demonstrated the university's outstanding innovative strength at an international level. The results of the two rankings were published at the beginning of May 2017. The University of Freiburg made a very successful showing in both evaluations.

Foto: Peter Mesenholl

Innovative leader

In the Thomson Reuters' ranking of Europe's Most Innovative Universities 2017, the University of Freiburg again took first place among universities in the state of Baden-Württemberg. The university has therefore occupied its top position in both Baden-Württemberg and Germany since the rankings began to be published in 2015. On a European level, Freiburg ranked 24th among the continent's 100 most innovative universities. The ratings of the Canadian media company Thomson Reuters list universities whose innovations have the greatest impact on scientific and technical progress and have the most influence on the global economy (see press release). The University of Freiburg only recently performed well in another ranking for ingenuity. In the current Gründungsradar of the German Stifterverband, the university is for the first time listed in the top 25 percent of higher educational institutions. It shares fourth place with two other universities in the "large colleges and universities" category for schools with more than 15,000 students (see press release).

Major innovative force

The CHE-Ranking 2017/18 ranked the university's research in the field of law in first place. With respect to department size, no other German university graduates more Ph.D. students in law. Freiburg also ranked first in terms of acquired funds per professorship in the state of Baden-Württemberg. In Germany, the university occupies fifth place.

Success in legal training, which the CHE-Ranking does not include entirely, enhances the strength of the university's research orientation. As the legal testing authority in Baden-Württemberg, the Justizprüfungsamt Baden-Württemberg and Germany's Federal Ministry of Justice and Consumer Protection report, the share of candidates from Freiburg taking state examinations who pass the First State Examination is nearly 82 percent, the highest in the state. The proportion of Freiburg candidates receiving grades between "very good" and "satisfactory"on their First State Examination is 61 percent, again, the highest share in Baden-Württemberg.

The CHE-Ranking also gave high marks for "research affinity" to the economics faculty at Freiburg. In relation to the size of the department, the economics faculty had the second highest rate for granting doctorates in the entire country, and the highest rate in the state as well. With respect to support at the start of study and the international orientation of the Master's program, the University of Freiburg was again at the top of the national rankings. The management courses of study with emphases in public and non-profit management received high marks for their efficacy: The share of Bachelor's students who successfully completed their degrees in the standard period of study was among the highest in the country.

Nicolas Scherger