Four days ago, on August 15, it was announced that two universities to which I was connected in the past, as well as my current employer, did very well in the prestigious Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU), also known as the Shanghai Ranking ( considered to be one of the most reliable global rankings of research universities). The University of Groningen, where I did both my undergraduate and my graduate studies, made it to 75th place and Utrecht University, where I was a visiting professor during the academic year of 2014/2015, took 56th place (making this the best research university in the Netherlands for the 13th year in a row). Radboud University, where I currently work as an assistant professor, also made it to the top 200, ranking at the 132nd place.Although such rankings are only part of what makes a successful university (since they are based on measuring the number of top scientists such as Nobel Price Winners and highly cited researchers and number of publications, both in total and in Nature en Science, leaving out important aspects such as learning environment, quality of education and the specific relevance of the humanities), I do believe that these rankings show that the Netherlands is a country that fosters the academe as an institution, which is good news for all academics in the Netherlands. In that sense, I am proud to have been connected to these institutes.
