Mapping Higher Education Excellence in the Region: Serbia in Comparative Perspective

Abstract

This research focuses on the positioning of Serbian higher education and its performance within the regional Balkan context. The research draws on the consistent presence of Serbian universities in international ranking lists, in contrast to the Macedonian higher education sector, which is in evident decline in this regard, with no universities from that sector appearing on high-profile international university rankings. Examining Serbia’s higher education system from a regional perspective offers a more nuanced understanding of relative performance among countries facing similar developmental challenges and operating within comparable institutional environments.

The goal of this paper was to provide a regional overview of Serbian higher education through the Academic Ranking of Balkan Universities (ARBU) platform, which uses a citations-only methodology based on Google Scholar citation data. The study used a quantitative approach to assess the performance of 16 Serbian higher education institutions by comparing them with 151 universities from the Balkan region, based on citation counts of their faculty members. It documented their performance across seven academic fields and disciplines and highlighted the output of the top national researchers.

The ARBU findings portray the Serbian higher education system as one of the strongest research systems in the Balkan region, second in aggregate institutional volume, with 2490515 total citations of the University of Belgrade as of 30 June 2025, 4 public universities ranked among the TOP 15 ARBU universities, and 5 researchers among the 25 researchers with the highest number of citations in the Balkans. A field-by-field analysis of ARBU shows that Serbia’s higher education system is not merely “strong overall.” It is structurally diverse, with distinct disciplinary clusters.

In summary, the research indicates that Serbia’s presence on the international ranking lists is not a mere coincidence but a systemic approach in the scientific and academic fields that strengthens research capacity, internationalization, and institutional governance.