Photo: Andreas Heddergott - München Tourismus

Munich Has Germany’s Best Universities

The Technical University of Munich (TUM) and the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität (LMU) remain the best universities in Germany in the prestigious QS World University Rankings. Internationally, the two Munich universities have improved slightly.

TUM took spot 49 in the international ranking among the best universities in the world. Compared to the previous year, TUM was able to move up one spot. In Europe, the Technical University ranked twelfth, and in the European Union, it came in third place. LMU came in as the second best university in Germany and in spot 59 internationally.  In the previous year, the University of Munich was ranked number  64. This puts LMU in 14th  place in Europe and in fifth place in the European Union. 

As the third best German university, the Ruprecht-Karls-Universität in Heidelberg is listed in 65th place worldwide. Freie Universität Berlin and Humboldt Universität zu Berlin ranked fourth and fifth among all German universities and 118th and 131st internationally. 

Munich universities shine in different fields 

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) near Boston tops the global ranking, followed by Cambridge in the United Kingdom, Stanford near California’s Silicon Valley, Oxford in England and Harvard near Boston. 

Rankings for individual departments provide deeper insight into the strengths and weaknesses of the individual universities. The Technical University of Munich shines particularly in the field of engineering and technology with a worldwide ranking in 19th place. TUM also took a very solid spot 28 in the natural sciences.  

Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität scored points in the fields of life sciences and medicine (38), arts and humanities (40) and also in the natural sciences (46).