Utrecht University is 52nd in this year’s Academic Ranking of World Universities, a list of the world’s best research universities compiled by Jia Tong University in Shanghai.

Utrecht, which slipped five places in last year’s ranking to 53rd position, is one of three Dutch institutions in the top 100.

Leiden is in 74th place, one place down on last year and nine places on two years ago. Groningen is a new entrant in 92nd place.

The next highest in the Dutch rankings are Radboud in Nijmegen, Wageningen, and Amsterdam’s two universities. All are ranked between 100 and150. Tilburg is the only one of the 13 Dutch universities not to feature in the top 500.

Criteria for a place on the list include the number of articles published in scientific magazines, citations by professors and research students and the number of awards.

The list is headed by Harvard university in the US.