The Czech University of Life Sciences in Prague is among the top 100 in the world in three fields

Agricultural and Forestry Sciences, Ecology, and, recently, Water Resources are the fields that secure the Czech University of Life Sciences in Prague a place among the TOP 100 world universities. This evaluation is stated in the prestigious Shanghai ARWU ranking for 2025, according to which CZU is the twenty-fourth best in the world and the fifth best in Europe in its main field, i.e., Agricultural and forestry sciences.

In the prestigious ARWU (Academic Ranking of World Universities), which compared 2,500 universities, CZU is ranked 801–900 overall and shares fourth place with ČVUT among Czech universities, as it did last year.

“CZU is in a somewhat paradoxical situation. Compared to last year, we have dropped in the overall ranking. Still, in the subject area corresponding to the university’s profile, which is Agricultural and Forestry Sciences, we have jumped from 51–70 to 24th place in the world and fifth place in Europe,” comments the university’s Rector Petr Sklenička on the university’s position. CZU also recorded a similar jump in the subject area Ecology, where it was ranked 101–150 last year and this year it is ranked 51–75, i.e., somewhere around 25th place in Europe. It did not appear in the subject area of ??Water Resources in 2024, while it is now ranked 76th–100th in the world. In three subject areas that fully correspond to the university's profile, it ranked in the top 100. In one of them, it even ranked among the top 25 in the world.

Even though this year's placement of three fields in the top hundred and a great result in the main subject area is a success, there is room for improvement. The Rector of CZU sees it in the cooperation of partner European universities in the Euroleague for Life Sciences alliance, which received the so-called Seal of Excellence from the European Commission for the Sustainable Life project. European educational institutions want to respond primarily to the emergence of Chinese universities. "Among the top 25 universities in the world in the subject area of ??Agricultural and Forestry Sciences, there are only five from Europe and as many as eight from China. Of those five European ones, three are members of the alliance mentioned above. Five years ago, there were only five universities in China and eight from Europe. As part of the European Commission's call, we are preparing a joint project for which CZU is coordinating. It aims to support excellence in research and increase the research competitiveness of European universities," notes CZU Rector Petr Sklenička.