The Freie Universität (FU) and Humboldt-Universität Berlin (HU), LMU München, the University of Bonn and Technische Universität München are the most popular universities with foreign researchers in Germany. This is the conclusion reached by the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation in its latest ranking of the popularity of universities and non-university research institutions. ???aural:Bildanfang??????Großansicht des Bildes???Popular capital city university. FU Berlin tops the Humboldt Rankings. © David Ausserhofer???aural:Bildende???The league table was compiled by evaluating more than 4,500 stays of international senior and junior researchers who had conducted research at 80 different universities in Germany over the last five years as holders of scholarships or awards from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation. The ranking is based on the number of research stays in Germany conducted by these international academics as fellows or award winners of the Humboldt Foundation. The success of big city universities and centres of excellence is conspicuous since they take six out of the first ten places. The votes of the Humboldtians confirm their attraction, but also the appeal of smaller, tradition- steeped locations such as Heidelberg (6th place) and Freiburg (7th place). In addition to the overall ranking, league tables were also compiled for different subject areas.

The first three places in the humanities go to the FU and HU in Berlin and to Freiburg. In the life sciences, FU Berlin is ahead of the University of Potsdam and the University of Kaiserslautern. The leading universities for the natural sciences are in Regensburg, Munich and Bielefeld. The top 20