TOP 11% globally

• The Friedrich Schiller University of Jena ranks among the top 11 percent of universities worldwide.

  In the Times Higher Education World University Ranking 2026 (THE Ranking), the university confirms its position in the 201–250 ranking group among a total of 2,191 universities evaluated worldwide – and at the same time improves its position within Germany by two places to 19th out of 55 listed universities.
  The improvement in the “Industry” category (patents and third-party funding from industry) is particularly striking in the THE WUR 2026: here, the university climbs more than 120 places in the global comparison from 341st to 217th and achieves a new high with a score of 88.7 out of 100 points (previous year: 78 points).

  

Outstanding positions in subject rankings: Ranked 8th in Ecology and 21 in Physics

• In the subject ranking of the Shanghai Academic Ranking of World Universities (GRAS 2025),

  the University of Jena occupies an excellent 8th place (out of 32) in the field of ECOLOGY in a Germany-wide comparison. Worldwide, the University of Jena ranks 101-150 (out of 400).
  
  In THE Subject Ranking 2026, the University of Jena's position in the 11-13 range (out of 34) in Germany and 126-150 (out of 1211) worldwide also demonstrates its strengths in the field of life sciences.

  

• In the field of PHYSICS,

  the University of Jena ranks 21 (out of 35) in a Germany-wide comparison. Worldwide, the University of Jena ranks 201-300 (out of 500, GRAS 2025).
  
  In the THE Subject Ranking 2026, the University of Jena is listed in the Physical Sciences field in Germany in ranking group 13-14 (out of 50) and worldwide in ranking group 151-175 (out of 1497).

  

Ranked 14-18 in the field of psychology and ranked 10-13 in the social sciences

• In the field of social sciences and humanities, the University of Jena scores highly in various areas

  PSYCHOLOGY
  - Ranked 14-18 (out of 44) in Germany and 151-200 (out of 500) worldwide in the field of psychology (Shanghai Global Ranking of Academic Subjects/ GRAS 2025) and
  - Ranked 17-19 (out of 31) in Germany and 201-250 (out of 694) in the THE Subject Ranking 2026.
  
  SOCIAL SCIENCES
  - 10-13 (out of 36) in Germany, 176-200 (out of 1202) worldwide (THE 2026)
  
  HUMANITIES
  The university is ranked in the 176–200 range (out of 817) in the THE Subject Ranking 2026.

  

• Bas Dutilh

  Bas E. Dutilh is Professor of Viral Ecology and Omics at the University of Jena and a member of the Cluster of Excellence "Balance of the Microverse", where he combines his work on virus discovery with his line of research on modeling the microbiome. Prof. Dutilh is fascinated by the ecological and evolutionary dynamics in the microbial world and works to understand the interactions of microbes with each other and their environment.