Seitlicher Blick auf das gesamte D4 Gebäude.

Rankings

There are many different higher education rankings. Some of them are subject specific, i.e. they focus on individual disciplines, for instance business administration or physics. Other rankings are whole-university rankings that compare entire universities, regardless of their disciplinary focus. Many rankings list the top 50, 100, or 1,000 institutions according to the criteria applied, while others rank the universities covered in groups, for instance A-E, 1-3, or top, middle, and bottom groups.

Some rankings focus exclusively on academic publications, while others look specifically at criteria such as graduates’ job success rates. Many use a mix of indicators covering a range of different areas and assessment methods: student surveys on teaching quality, statistics provided by the universities, e.g. on faculty numbers, and publication data obtained from international databases.

The wide variety of different approaches clearly shows that there is no single “most important” ranking, and no single “correct” method for comparing and ranking universities. Higher education rankings are by necessity selective in the perspective they adopt, and they can only show part of the picture. In a way, they are like a kaleidoscope: Just a little twist in one direction or the other can completely change what you see. In this sense, rankings paint a picture that is never the full truth, but never completely wrong either.

WU is listed in a large number of different rankings. We are pleased with our good ranking results, but we also know that it is necessary to keep a critical eye on the various rankings and indicators and on how the different ranking providers develop their respective approaches. In the following you find an overview of WU’s current positions in major rankings:

Economist Ranking

Masters in Management 2019 Ranking

  • WU Master’s in International Management placed 5th out of 40 programs (2nd place in the German-speaking area)

Financial Times Ranking

Masters in Management Ranking 2024

  • WU Master’s in International Management placed 20th out of 100 programs (4th place in the German-speaking area)

European Business School Ranking 2024

  • WU placed 46th of 100 European schools ranked

Executive MBA Ranking 2024

  • The Executive MBA program offered by the WU Executive Academy placed 60th out of the top 100 executive MBA programs in the world

Handelsblatt/Wirtschaftswoche Ranking

  • 2024 Business Administration Ranking (BWL 2024): 5th place

  • 2023 Economics Ranking (VWL 2023): 9th place

QS Rankings

QS World University Ranking by Subject 2025

  • Overall Ranking Social Sciences & Management: 119 of 555

  • Business & Management Studies: 59 of 651

  • Accounting & Finance: group 101-150 of 379

  • Economics & Econometrics: 108 of 699

  • Marketing: group 51-100 of 101

  • Statistics: group 201-250 of 277

QS Program Rankings

  • Masters in Finance 2025: 20 out of 222

  • Masters in Management 2025: 18 out of 206

  • Masters in Marketing 2025: 12 out of 140

  • Masters in Supply Chain Management 2025: 2 out of 85

Shanghai Academic Ranking of World Universities in

Business Administration 2024

  • WU placed 37th

Economics 2024

  • WU placed among the top 76-100 universities

Management 2024

  • WU placed among the top 101-150 universities

Finance 2024

  • WU placed among the top 151-200 universities

Public Administration 2024

  • WU placed among the top 76-100 universities

    Format Uni-Ranking 2014

    • WU’s programs in International Business Administration (bachelor’s level) and Business Law (bachelor’s and master’s levels): 2nd place

    • WU’s program in Business Administration (bachelor’s level): 8th place

    • WU occupies 7 out of a total of 30 places