Research Public Administration at Leiden University among world’s best
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Leiden University’s research in Public Administration has been ranked first worldwide in the 2026 Shanghai Ranking. Leiden tops the list of 100 universities in the Public Administration category.
This represents a rise of four places compared with 2025, when the University was ranked fifth. Leiden’s score for research impact has also increased. The Danish universities of Aarhus and Roskilde take second and third place respectively this year.
The result forms part of Shanghai Ranking’s Global Ranking of Academic Subjects. This annual ranking compares the academic performance of universities across 57 subject areas.
Shanghai Ranking’s assessment considers factors including publications in leading academic journals, how frequently academic publications are cited and international collaboration. The publication data used for the 2026 edition cover the period from 2021 to 2025.
Scientific Director Bram Klievink: ‘Incredibly proud’
‘Within Leiden's Academia in Motion, we choose not to reduce quality to rankings and other simple indicators. Universities across the Netherlands have also expressed criticism of rankings of this kind: there is much to question about exactly what they measure, how they do so and what significance we subsequently attach to the results.
‘But we do not need rankings to know that we are an exceptionally strong research institute. This became clear to me once again when we took stock in our self-evaluation ahead of our forthcoming research assessment: the quality and societal relevance of our research, our international connections and, above all, the remarkable breadth of expertise we bring together.
‘I am incredibly proud of that. Alongside the excellent and intensive teaching programmes we provide, together we have built a research programme that operates at the highest international level. With or without rankings, it is good to pause occasionally and reflect on what we have built together and on all the colleagues who contribute to it every day.’