According to the recently published QS World University Rankings for 2016/2017, Freie Universität Berlin (FU), Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin (HU) and Technische Universität Berlin (TU) belong to the top nine universities in Germany.

The QS World University Rankings assess university performance based on the following six indicators: the institution's academic reputation, the ratio of students to faculty, the number of citations by researchers, the reputation of graduates among employers, the international faculty ratio and the international composition of students. Data from over 900 universities worldwide was evaluated in order to determine the 2016/2017 rankings.

Placed among the best universities in Germany, HU, FU and TU Berlin were ranked 5th, 6th and 9th, respectively, and claimed higher positions in comparison with previous results. The three Berlin universities also appear among the best 200 in the world with the FU ranked at 123, the HU at 121 and the TU at 164.