28 January 2026
Babeș-Bolyai University of Cluj-Napoca (UBB) is the highest-ranked university in Romania and 13th in Eastern Europe according to the British QS ranking for European universities, released on Wednesday, 28 January 2026. The ranking places UBB in the 248th position in Europe, among the top 25.8% of the 958 European universities featured in the ranking, with several thousand other European universities not included in the ranking.
“Besides the fact that UBB has moved up in the rankings year after year, it’s worth noting that, as I’ve pointed out before, rankings are useful proxies, not comprehensive evaluations of a university. To this end, I find it useful to note that, in general, the universities in Eastern Europe that rank higher than UBB are comprehensive universities that also feature a biomedical component or technical universities,” explains UBB Rector, professor psych. Daniel David, PhD, also pointing out that “UBB has always had a strong presence in the sciences – which is a major factor in this ranking – and a broad reach in the social sciences and humanities – which is only partially reflected in this ranking, because books, for example, which are the main output of many fields in these sciences, are not factored into the overall score, as is also the case in other better-known rankings, such as the Shanghai ranking. However, as of 2020, we have also developed an engineering component at UBB (the latest THE ranking this month placing us among the top universities in the country), and we are now in the early stages of developing a biomedical component. Last but not least, it’s important to note that these academic developments at UBB are not designed to boost its ranking – although they may have that effect – but rather to develop UBB’s comprehensive approach, thereby contributing to student education and advancing knowledge.
The British QS ranking (https://www.topuniversities.com/about-qs) is currently the most widely read university ranking, applying a wide range of criteria and indicators in an effort to provide the most comprehensive overview possible of university performance.
Tradition and Excellence with Culture-Science-Innovation since 1581
Babeș-Bolyai University of Cluj-Napoca (UBB) is the university with the most complex academic profile in the country (by its number of programmes and multicultural profile featuring three official academic languages: Romanian, Hungarian, and German), and with the oldest academic tradition in Romania (established 445 years ago – 1581), accounting for the largest academic community in the country (with a staff of more than 55,000 people, from 15 cities and 12 counties). Ever since its establishment, UBB has been one of the most prestigious and influential universities in Romania; for several years now, UBB has consistently ranked among the top 5% of the world’s universities (out of approximately 30,000), with an advanced academic infrastructure (e.g. RDI units integrated into European networks, up-to-date teaching laboratories integrating virtual/augmented/mixed reality through the UBB-EON-XR Centre, etc.). Recently (2021), following the international QS STAR audit, UBB was officially ranked as the first world-class university (QS*****) in Romania, and in 2020 UBB was included in the GUILD, the organisation of the most prestigious European world-class/research-intensive universities, it was awarded the European HR Award for Excellence, and as of 2021/2022 it is a member of the EUTOPIA alliance of European universities.
UBB Communication and PR Department
