“I congratulate these three departments on their outstanding results and thank everyone involved for their excellent teamwork. These ratings once again highlight that at the University of Passau, cutting-edge research and dedicated, student-focused teaching go hand in hand“, says University President Professor Jan Hendrik Schumann.
For its law department, the University of Passau received top marks in categories including overall study situation, courses offered, study organisation, teacher support, and digital teaching elements. In all 13 categories, the Faculty of Law is in the national top group. Once again, exam preparation support stood out, scoring 4.6 out of 5 stars – well above the national average of 4.1. Alongside the universities of Bayreuth and Mannheim, Passau is among Germany’s top three public universities in this category.
“I am extremely pleased with these results“, says Professor Meinhard Schröder, Dean of the Faculty of Law. “They are well-deserved recognition of the exceptional commitment our faculty has shown for many years. These results do not yet reflect the structural improvements, administrative optimisations and new initiatives introduced in winter semester 2025–26, which will bring further improvements for first-year students. The University of Passau remains one of the absolute top destinations for law studies in Germany.”
The University's business administration programmes – B.Sc. Business Administration and Economics and B.Sc. Digital Transformation in Business and Society – also rank among Germany’s best. The Passau School of Business, Economics and Information Systems received good ratings in categories including overall study situation and courses offered. In addition to student evaluations – which place the department in the top group for 11 out of 12 categories – the faculty also excels in research strength. Both in publications per professor and third-party funds per professor, the school is among the leading institutions in the ranking.
The information systems department also performed exceptionally well in the current CHE ranking. In 10 out of 11 categories, the University of Passau is above the national benchmark, consistently ranking in the leading group. Students rated the overall study situation particularly highly, with 4.7 stars – the highest score among all public universities in Germany. Moreover, the programme received 4.6 stars for support during studies, making it the clear nationwide leader in this category. Alongside the universities of Augsburg and Bamberg, Passau also leads in courses offered, with 4.5 stars. Beyond these outstanding student evaluations, the B.Sc. Information Systems programme also ranks in the top group for contact with professional practice.
“We are thrilled with this excellent result”, says Dean Professor Suleika Bort. “It underscores the outstanding study conditions at the School of Business, Economics and Information Systems, and particularly within the Information Systems department.”
In the support in the study entry phase category, all three ranked departments at the University of Passau are in the national top group.
About the CHE Ranking
The CHE university ranking – which has been published exclusively in the ZEIT Studienführer study guide and on HeyStudium for more than twenty years – is the most comprehensive comparison of universities in the German-speaking world. It offers evaluations of more than 10,000 degree programmes at German universities. The ZEIT Studienführer 2026/27 was published on 9 May and offers over 280 pages of detailed information for prospective students, including selected ranking results and in-depth data on more than 35 subjects, study choice tips, and checklists for starting university.
The full ranking, based on feedback from around 120,000 students, is available online at HeyStudium: www.heystudium.de/ranking.