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Official speeches and statements - October 14, 2022

Published on October 14, 2022

1. Higher education - Influence/attractiveness - The increase in the number of French institutions in the "THE 2023" ranking confirms France’s scientific and academic recognition abroad - Press release issued by the Ministry of Higher Education and Research (Paris - October 11, 2022)

The new edition of the Times Higher Education (THE) rankings has just been published. Featuring 42 French institutions (three more than the previous edition), the 2023 rankings demonstrate France’s scientific and educational influence internationally.

The THE rankings have the distinctive characteristic of assessing the "essential" missions of higher education and research, and provide an opportunity to highlight the French academic communities’ investment in research, training, innovation and international cooperation.

Having featured among the THE rankings’ Top 50 since 2018, Université Paris Sciences et Lettres keeps its place as the leading French university, standing at 14th position in Europe and 47th in the world. The progression of l’Université Paris-Saclay (93rd), alongside Sorbonne Université (90th) and the Institut Polytechnique de Paris (95th), gives France one more institution than last year among the top 100 universities in the ranking. On the basis of this Top 100, France stands in eighth place in the world (up one), behind the United States, the UK, Germany, China, Australia, the Netherlands and Hong Kong.

In addition to the remarkable progression of Université Paris Cité (114th, up 41) compared to the 2022 rankings, the Ministry welcomes the entry of four new institutions into the table : ENSTA Bretagne (601-800), ENTPE, School for the Sustainable Development of Territories (801-1,000), IMT Nord Europe (1,001-1,200) and the Université Sorbonne Nouvelle (1,201-1,500).

Sylvie Retailleau, Minister of Higher Education and Research, congratulates all the 42 French institutions ranked and particularly the researchers, lecturers, teaching fellows and research support staff who have made these results possible through their daily work.

This table also illustrates the result of the State’s policy of investment in research and training over the long term with the various Investing in the Future and France 2030 programs (IdEx, I-Site, ExcellencES etc.). 16 of the 17 institutions with an initiative of excellence are present in the ranking, 8 of them in the Top 500. This funding has helped to structurally transform the institutions, increase their training offer and forge their reputation in the sciences. Likewise, 9 out of the 10 experimental public institutions officially created before 2022 feature among the 42 institutions ranked. These results also show how essential the levers made available, as part of the Research Programming Act in particular, are in terms of recognizing the scientific potential of French universities in the years to come.