The Silesian Medical University in Katowice for the second year was included in the Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU) – known as the Shanghai Ranking. The Silesian University was classified on places from 500 to 1000 (ARWU World Top 500 Candidates 2018).

The ranking includes twelve Polish universities. Only University of Warsaw and the Jagiellonian University took places in the first 500 positions. In the 500 – 1000 range there are ten Polish universities, including only two medical schools – Silesia and Warsaw Universities.
The creators of the ranking take into account the number of graduates or employees who received the Nobel Prize or Fields Medal, the number of the most cited scientists, the number of publications in the journal Nature or Science, publications listed in the Science Citation Index – Expanded and Social Sciences Citation Index. The list also includes the size of achievements in relation to the size of the university.