Where is the Croatian Higher Education in 2025?

Abstract

Among the eight Western Balkan countries, Croatia produces the largest absolute volume of academic citations and places the most institutions in the regional ARBU top 12. What Croatia's leadership consists of is a different question and has not previously been mapped through a single citation-based regional framework.

The analysis applies the Academic Ranking of Balkan Universities (ARBU) with data as of 30 June 2025. The methodology is quantitative, drawing on bibliometric data from Google Scholar profiles aggregated to the institutional level. Coverage extends to all 31 ranked Croatian higher education institutions, the regional top 12 universities, and the top 25 individual researchers across the Western Balkans.

Two findings dominate. First, Croatia's regional leadership is clear on absolute volume but does not extend to per-faculty productivity. The country generates 41 percent of all Western Balkan citations, but Slovenia produces more than double the Croatian rate per faculty member. Second, leadership rests on a narrow base. Five institutions, headed by Zagreb and Split, account for 95 percent of national citation output. The remaining 26 institutions, including the entire polytechnic system, account for 5 percent. All 13 Croatian researchers in the regional Western Balkan top 25 are based at just two universities, with Split overtaking Zagreb at the elite level.

In summary, Croatia is regionally dominant in aggregate but internally lopsided. Two policy options follow: broadening the productive base across more institutions, or recognizing the tiered structure as a deliberate feature of policy rather than an artifact of incumbency.