Methodology
How We Calculate Rankings
Data Source
All rankings are based on official CORDIS (Community Research and Development Information Service) CSV files published by the European Commission. CORDIS is the European Commission's primary source of information on EU-funded research projects.
The data is publicly available and can be downloaded directly from the European Commission's CORDIS website. All calculations are transparent and reproducible using these official data files.
Data Source: European Commission CORDIS (Dataset: January 2026). Note: Figures represent signed grant agreements and may differ slightly from live dashboards due to monthly update cycles.
Multiple PICs: In the case of universities using more than one Participant Identification Code (PIC), there may be a slight inaccuracy in the data. In that case, universities should contact us at info@horizonrankings.eu to consolidate their data.
Time Period
Rankings cover Horizon Europe projects during the period for which data is available in the CORDIS database. This represents projects from the Horizon Europe program.
Institution Type
Rankings focus exclusively on HES (Higher Education Institutions). This includes universities, colleges, and other higher education establishments.
Other organization types (research institutes, companies, NGOs, etc.) are excluded from these rankings to ensure fair comparison between similar institutions.
Ranking Metrics Explained
Total Funding
The sum of all EU contributions (ec_contribution field) received by each university. This represents the total amount of Horizon Europe funding secured by the institution across all projects.
Project Count
The number of distinct Horizon Europe projects in which each university participated. Each project is counted once, regardless of the university's role (coordinator or participant).
Coordinated Projects
The number of projects where the university served as the coordinator. Coordinators are responsible for project management and reporting to the European Commission.
Coordination Rate
The percentage of projects where the university served as coordinator, calculated as:
Coordination Rate = (Coordinated Projects / Total Projects) × 100
Minimum threshold: Universities must have participated in at least 20 projects to qualify for a coordination rate. This ensures statistical significance and prevents distortion from small sample sizes.
Transparency & Reproducibility
All calculations are reproducible. The methodology uses pure data aggregation with no subjective weighting, normalization, or proprietary algorithms. Anyone with access to the CORDIS data files can reproduce these rankings.
The ranking process involves:
- Filtering CORDIS data by institution type (HES)
- Aggregating funding and project counts per institution
- Calculating coordination rates from project roles
- Sorting institutions by the selected metric
No adjustments, corrections, or manual interventions are applied to the data. Rankings reflect exactly what is present in the official CORDIS database.
Important Disclaimer
These rankings measure participation, not quality. A university's position in these rankings reflects its engagement with Horizon Europe funding programs, not the quality of its research, teaching, or overall academic excellence. Many excellent universities may not appear in these rankings due to different research priorities, funding strategies, or institutional focus.