According to the QS World University Rankings for 2025, the university is ranked 191st globally, placing it within the top 10 nationally.
! Subject !! Global !! National
|-
!
! data-sort-value="133" | 133
! data-sort-value="8" | 8
|-
| Linguistics
| data-sort-value="101–150" |
| data-sort-value="4–10" |
|-
| Theology, Divinity and Religious Studies
| data-sort-value="51–100" |
| data-sort-value="7–10" |
|-
| History
| data-sort-value="101–150" |
| data-sort-value="6–8" |
|-
| Modern Languages
| data-sort-value="101–150" |
| data-sort-value="5–7" |
|-
| Philosophy
| data-sort-value="101–150" |
| data-sort-value="8–12" |
|-
!
! N/A
! N/A
|-
| Computer Science and Information Systems
| data-sort-value="251–300" |
| data-sort-value="13–14" |
|-
!
! data-sort-value="146" | 146
! data-sort-value="7" | 7
|-
| Anatomy and Physiology
| data-sort-value="51–100" |
| data-sort-value="2–6" |
|-
| Biological Sciences
| data-sort-value="137" |
| data-sort-value="10" |
|-
| Medicine
| data-sort-value="108" |
| data-sort-value="6" |
|-
| Pharmacy and Pharmacology
| data-sort-value="151–200" |
| data-sort-value="10" |
|-
| Psychology
| data-sort-value="101–150" |
| data-sort-value="4–7" |
|-
!
! data-sort-value="104" | 104
! data-sort-value="8–9" | 8–9
|-
| Earth and Marine Sciences
| data-sort-value="51–100" |
| data-sort-value="2–6" |
|-
| Geography
| data-sort-value="101–150" |
| data-sort-value="4–7" |
|-
| Geology
| data-sort-value="51–100" |
| data-sort-value="2–6" |
|-
| Geophysics
| data-sort-value="51–100" |
| data-sort-value="1–6" |
|-
| Mathematics
| data-sort-value="201–250" |
| data-sort-value="14–15" |
|-
| Physics and Astronomy
| data-sort-value="78" |
| data-sort-value="6" |
|-
!
! data-sort-value="194" | 194
! data-sort-value="7–8" | 7–8
|-
| Communication and Media Studies
| data-sort-value="101–150" |
| data-sort-value="3–7" |
|-
| Economics and Econometrics
| data-sort-value="201–250" |
| data-sort-value="9–10" |
|-
| Education and Training
| data-sort-value="151–200" |
| data-sort-value="6–7" |
|-
| Law and Legal Studies
| data-sort-value="94" |
| data-sort-value="5" |
|-
| Politics
| data-sort-value="151–200" |
| data-sort-value="7–8" |
|-
| Sociology
| data-sort-value="151–200" |
| data-sort-value="9–11" |
|-
|}
{| class="wikitable sortable" style="width: 100%; font-size: 90%"
|+ THE World University Rankings by Subject 2024
! Subject !! Global !! National
|-
| Arts & humanities
| data-sort-value="98" |
| data-sort-value="8" |
|-
| Business & economics
| data-sort-value="201–250" |
| data-sort-value="10–11" |
|-
| Clinical & health
| data-sort-value="126–150" |
| data-sort-value="7–10" |
|-
| Computer science
| data-sort-value="301–400" |
| data-sort-value="24–27" |
|-
| Education
| data-sort-value="101–125" |
| data-sort-value="6" |
|-
| Law
| data-sort-value="42" |
| data-sort-value="3" |
|-
| Life sciences
| data-sort-value="151–175" |
| data-sort-value="15–17" |
|-
| Physical sciences
| data-sort-value="101–125" |
| data-sort-value="10–11" |
|-
| Psychology
| data-sort-value="126–150" |
| data-sort-value="11–14" |
|-
|}
{| class="wikitable sortable" style="width: 100%; font-size: 90%"
|+ ARWU Global Ranking of Academic Subjects 2023
! Subject !! Global !! National
|-
! colspan="3" | Natural Sciences
|-
| Physics
| data-sort-value="51–75" |
| data-sort-value="3–4" |
|-
| Earth Sciences
| data-sort-value="101–150" |
| data-sort-value="5–10" |
|-
| Geography
| data-sort-value="201–300" |
| data-sort-value="10–15" |
|-
| Ecology
| data-sort-value="201–300" |
| data-sort-value="17–27" |
|-
| Oceanography
| data-sort-value="51–75" |
| data-sort-value="3–4" |
|-
| Atmospheric Science
| data-sort-value="76–100" |
| data-sort-value="3–5" |
|-
! colspan="3" | Engineering
|-
| Biomedical Engineering
| data-sort-value="201–300" |
| data-sort-value="11–13" |
|-
| Computer Science & Engineering
| data-sort-value="401–500" |
| data-sort-value="11–16" |
|-
| Environmental Science & Engineering
| data-sort-value="401–500" |
| data-sort-value="19–25" |
|-
| Biotechnology
| data-sort-value="201–300" |
| data-sort-value="10–16" |
|-
! colspan="3" | Life Sciences
|-
| Biological Sciences
| data-sort-value="101–150" |
| data-sort-value="8–12" |
|-
| Human Biological Sciences
| data-sort-value="51–75" |
| data-sort-value="5–7" |
|-
! colspan="3" | Medical Sciences
|-
| Clinical Medicine
| data-sort-value="101–150" |
| data-sort-value="5–7" |
|-
| Public Health
| data-sort-value="201–300" |
| data-sort-value="7–11" |
|-
| Dentistry & Oral Sciences
| data-sort-value="101–150" |
| data-sort-value="8–14" |
|-
| Medical Technology
| data-sort-value="76–100" |
| data-sort-value="11–14" |
|-
| Pharmacy & Pharmaceutical Sciences
| data-sort-value="301–400" |
| data-sort-value="17–24" |
|-
! colspan="3" | Social Sciences
|-
| Economics
| data-sort-value="201–300" |
| data-sort-value="9–13" |
|-
| Law
| data-sort-value="201–300" |
| data-sort-value="3–6" |
|-
| Political Sciences
| data-sort-value="151–200" |
| data-sort-value="9–11" |
|-
| Sociology
| data-sort-value="151–200" |
| data-sort-value="9–11" |
|-
| Education
| data-sort-value="301–400" |
| data-sort-value="6–18" |
|-
| Communication
| data-sort-value="101–150" |
| data-sort-value="8–14" |
|-
| Psychology
| data-sort-value="51–75" |
| data-sort-value="1–4" |
|-
| Business Administration
| data-sort-value="201–300" |
| data-sort-value="4–8" |
|-
| Management
| data-sort-value="201–300" |
| data-sort-value="3–7" |
|-
| Public Administration
| data-sort-value="51–75" |
| data-sort-value="2–3" |
|-
| Hospitality & Tourism Management
| data-sort-value="201–300" |
| data-sort-value="2" |
|-
|}
Measured by the number of top managers in the German economy, UHH ranked 15th in 2019. The Best Global Universities Ranking of the U.S. News & World Report ranked UHH 7th nationally, 44th in Europe and 121st in the world as of 2017.
UHH was ranked 6th in Germany and 186th worldwide by the 2020 CWTS Leiden Ranking. The 2016 Center for World Universities (CWUR) ranked UHH 9th nationally and 170th globally (out of more than 25,000 institutions). The Webometrics Ranking of World Universities, which classifies universities according to volume and impact of web publications, ranked UHH 5th in Germany and 140th worldwide out of roughly 12,000 universities.
In 2016, Eduniversal ranked Universität Hamburg School of Business, Economics and Social Sciences 13th in Germany – between Technical University of Munich and Free University of Berlin.
In 2019, UHH was inducted into German Excellence Strategy of the Federal and State Governments, a competition for top-level university research funding in Germany, with four distinct clusters of Excellence. As of July 2019, UHH is one of eleven universities to be awarded the status of University of Excellence for their "Flagship University" concept.
Administrative structure
Faculty of Law
- Jurisprudence
Faculty of Business Administration
- Business Administration (BWL)
Faculty of Economics and Social Sciences
- Department of Social Economics
- Department of Social Sciences
- Department of Macroeconomics (VWL)
thumb|University Medical Center Hamburg-EppendorfFaculty of Medicinal Sciences
- Medical Sciences
Faculty of Education, Psychology and Human Movement
- Department of Human Movement
- Department of Education
- Department of Psychology
- Service Department for Evaluation
Faculty of Humanities
- Asia – Africa Institute
- Department of Theology
- Department of History
- Department of Cultural History and Contemporary Culture
- Department of Philosophy
- Department of Language, Literature, Media (SLM)
Faculty of Mathematics, Computer Science and Natural Sciences
- Department of Biology
- Department of Chemistry
- Department of Geosciences
- Department of Computer Science
- Department of Mathematics
- Department of Physics
- Center for Bioinformatics
- Center for Forest Products
Facilities and associated institutes
thumb|The Hamburg Observatory
The Hamburg State and University Library Carl von Ossietzky, established in 1479, contains over 5 million volumes and is the biggest academic library in the Hamburg metropolitan area. It is also used as a legal deposit and archive for the city-state. It owns a large number of special collections and items of historic value, including medieval manuscripts. Hamburg University Press is also part of the library system. The university also oversees three museums: the , the Mineralogical Museum Hamburg, and the Museum of Geology and Paleontology Hamburg. All of these are located on the central campus.
A large number of Associated Institutes (An-Institute) are affiliated with the university, among them the Hans-Bredow-Institut for Media Research and the Leibniz Institute of Virology. Other affiliated institutions include:
- Hamburg Observatory
- German Climate Computing Centre
- Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research
- Bernhard Nocht Institute for Tropical Medicine
- European Molecular Biology Laboratory
- Max Planck Institute for Meteorology
- Max Planck Institute for the Structure and Dynamics of Matter
- Max Planck Institute for Comparative and International Private Law
- Confucius Institute Hamburg
- Hamburg Centre for Ultrafast Imaging
- The China-EU School of Law at China University of Political Science and Law in Beijing, China, which contains 16 member institutions for providing mid-career training, master's degree and joint doctoral research in China-EU Law. UHH was one of the founding members.
University of Hamburg alumni and faculty
Students/graduates
- Ngozi Alaegbu – Journalist
- Frank Baffoe – Ghanaian economist, diplomat and businessman
- Eberhard Becker – Mathematician
- Wolfgang Burandt – Lawyer, legal academic and professor for commercial law
- Gerd Bucerius – Politician, the namesake of the Bucerius Law School
- Ezriel Carlebach – Israeli journalist and editorial writer
- Shiing-Shen Chern – Winner of Wolf Prize in Mathematics in 1984
- Jürgen Ehlers – Winner of Max Planck Medal in 2002
- Alexander Estis – Swiss author, translator and journalist of Russian origin, winner of the in 2020
- Jürgen Fitschen – Co-CEO of Deutsche Bank from 2009 to 2016
- Rainer Froese – Developer of FishBase
- Klaus Hasselmann – oceanographer and climate modeller, and recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2021
- Vera Hatz – Royal Numismatic Society medallist
- Harald zur Hausen – Winner of Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2008
- Ingo Heidbrink – Maritime Historian. Secretary-General of the International Commission for Maritime History
- Lorenz Hilty - Computer Scientist
- Wolfgang Hoffmann-Riem – Legal scholar and a former judge of the Federal Constitutional Court of Germany
- J. Hans D. Jensen – Winner of Nobel Prize in Physics in 1963
- Christine Klein – neurologist, medical researcher and academic
- Jan Kohlhaase – Mathematician
- Hein Kötz – Director of the Max-Planck-Institute for foreign and international private law (MPI-PRIV), the Bucerius Law School and Vice President of the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft
- Hans Adolf Krebs – Winner of Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1953
- Jens Marklof – Mathematician and physicist. Winner of the Whitehead Prize.
- Tuhi Martukaw – Taiwanese journalist and diplomat
- Emma Mbua – the first woman from East Africa to become a palaeontologist.
- Reinhard Moratz – Ausserplanmässiger Professor at the University of Münster's Institute for Geoinformatics
- Paul Nevermann – First Mayor of Hamburg (1961–1965)
- Silke Ospelkaus – Group leader at the Max Planck Institute of Quantum Optics
- Jože Pučnik – Known as one of the "Fathers of Slovenian independence from Yugoslavia"
- Dagmar Reichardt – Cultural scholar
- Joachim Ritter – philosopher and founder of the so-called Ritter School of liberal conservatism
- Waldemar R. Röhrbein, historian, director of Historisches Museum Hannover
- Peter Schlechtriem – Law scholar
- Wolfgang Schäuble – Germany's Federal Minister of Finance in the second and third Merkel cabinets since 2009
- Helmut Schmidt – Graduate, Economist, Chancellor of West Germany from 1974 to 1982
- Olaf Scholz – Lawyer, Chancellor of Germany since 2021.
- Klaus-Peter Siegloch – Former journalist and reporter for ZDF
- Peter Sloterdijk – Philosopher and cultural theorist
- Richard Sorge – Famous spy
- Leo Strauss – Political philosopher well known for US esotericism
- Ole Wittmann – German art historian, curator, and publisher
Faculty
- Helmut Bley – (born 1935), German historian, academic councillor, supervising students from the Third World
- Ernst Cassirer – Neo-Kantian Philosopher and Historian, a professor from 1919 to 1933
- Henry N. Chapman – X-ray physicist and crystallographer, winner of the Leibniz Prize in 2015.
- Emil Artin – Mathematician, a professor from 1923 to 1937
- Curt Kosswig – Zoologist who worked for many years in Turkey before spending 1955–1969 at Hamburg University
- Georg von Dadelsen – Musicologist, 1960 to 1971, Neue Bach-Ausgabe
- Rudolf Fleischmann – Experimental nuclear physicist
- Otto Franke – first Sinology Chair at Hamburg
- Wolfgang Franke – Sinology Chair, son of Otto
- Anke Grotlüschen – Professor for Lifelong Learning.
- Leonhard Harding – (born 1936) historian and scholar in African studies
- Klaus Hasselmann – oceanographer and climate modeller, and recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physics 2021
- Wilhelm Lenz – Physicist, advisor of J. Hans D. Jensen
- Willibald Jentschke – Experimental nuclear physicist
- Klaus Koch – Expert in the growth of Biblical Studies
- Arnold Kohlschütter – Well-known astronomer and astrophysicist
- Yu-chien Kuan – Chinese defector, Sinologist, and writer
- Agathe Lasch – First female professor at Hamburg (1917–1934), Germanic philologist and Holocaust victim
- Wolfgang Paul – Winner of Nobel Prize in Physics in 1989, founder of the DESY.
- Wolfgang Pauli – Winner of Nobel Prize in Physics in 1945