The Centre for Higher Education Development (CHE) created an "ExcellenceRanking" in the fields of biology, chemistry, mathematics, and physics in the first cycle and has now added the fields political science, psychology and economics as a sequel.

On the basis of our longstanding experience with ranking European higher education institutions in Austria, Belgium, Germany, the Netherlands, and Switzerland, the CHE intends to contribute to the development of the European Higher Education Area while demonstrating the competitive strength of European universities.

It is the goal of the CHE ExcellenceRanking to help academics with Bachelor's degree searching for a sufficient higher education institution (HEI) for their Master programme or for Master graduates for a PhD programme.

The CHE ExcellenceRanking seal of quality shows that a department or research field at an HEI is member of the Excellence Group.

A detailed paper with facts, explanations and methodology is available exclusively in English and can be downloaded by clicking on the link to the right. Detailed results of the ExcellenceRanking can also be found at www.excellenceranking.org, the online interactive website hosted by DIE ZEIT.

The results of the first and second phase of the ExcellenceRanking are published in the weekly journal DIE ZEIT on October 29th 2009.