International rankings: UA becoming a global name in health research
The University of Angers has recently been recognised in three prestigious international academic rankings. The quality of research, the training offered, the international collaborations... The indicators are manifold. Here is a brief description.
Une technicienne en biologie utilise un microscope ultramicrotome au Service commun d'imageries et d'analyses microscopiques (Sciam), rattaché à la Structure fédérative de recherche (SFR) Interactions cellulaires et applications thérapeutiques (Icat) de l'Université d'Angers.
This summer, the University of Leiden (Netherlands) ranked 1506 institutions worldwide according to their performance in scientific research between 2019 and 2022: fourteen French institutions feature in the top 500 and the University of Angers appears in 1248th place, the 27th best French university (an improvement of two places on last year).
The ranking takes into account the volume of publications and their impact in terms of citations, the dynamics of collaboration with other research bodies (ranked 92nd in the world), the degree of openness to the full text of scientific articles (top 200) and, finally, the proportion of women among the authors of publications (ranked 6th in France).
In terms of scientific impact, UA stands out among five major disciplines in health and biomedical sciences (23rd place nationally, 402nd internationally), life and earth sciences (17th place nationally, 442nd internationally) and physics and engineering (14th internationally).
Notable scientific impact
Another famous ranking is the Times Higher Education (THE) World University Rankings (WUR). The University of Angers appeared in this ranking for the first time at the beginning of October. It is ranked 1201-1500 out of 2092 institutions and 39th out of 50 in France. This is a remarkable performance compared to other French universities already ranked, which are losing ground. UA stands out in two areas in particular: international scientific collaboration and knowledge transfer, in particular through patenting.
In the 2024 edition of the Shanghai thematic rankings, unveiled at the beginning of November, UA consolidated its positions in two key areas of research in Angers:
- Health research, ranked in Clinical Medicine (301st-400th worldwide and 12th nationally according to the Research Impact indicator), Medical Technology (301st-400th) and Human Biological Sciences (401st-500th);
- Earth Sciences, ranked 301st-400th in the world in the Earth Sciences discipline, with the highest research impact score in terms of citations in France (1st out of 28), as well as an excellent international collaboration dynamic (3rd in France).
Finally, for the Summer of 2025, the University of Angers aims to be included for the first time in the THE Impact ranking, which measures the actions of institutions in support of the United Nations' seventeen Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Valérie Ugo's viewpoint
Valérie Ugo is a university professor and hospital practitioner (PU-PH) in biological hematology at the University of Angers and the Angers delegate for health research.
"We are very pleased with these results. Health research, and clinical research in particular, is one of the strengths of the Faculty of Health Sciences and the Angers University Hospital.
The quality of medical science production is based on a few researchers and teams with national and/or international recognition. The joint actions taken by UA and the University Hospital to structure and support excellence in health research are bearing fruit, but must be continued, as national and international competition is ruthless and the potential for progress is real".
