| # | University | City | World rank | In-country | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Nicaragua | not ranked | #1 | 51,021 | |
| 2 | Universidad Nacional Agraria | not ranked | #2 | 12,459 | |
| 3 | Universidad Centroamericana | not ranked | #4 | 8,130 | |
| 4 | Universidad Nacional de Ingenieria | not ranked | #7 | 2,845 | |
| 5 | Universidad Americana | not ranked | #6 | 2,774 | |
| 6 | Universidad de las Américas (ULAM) | not ranked | #5 | 2,770 | |
| 7 | Universidad Catolica "Redemptoris Mater" | not ranked | #8 | 2,050 | |
| 8 | Universidad de las Regiones Autónomas de la Costa Caribe Nicaragüense | not ranked | #9 | 1,503 | |
| 9 | Universidad de Managua (U de M) | not ranked | #3 | 352 | |
| 10 | Universidad Ciencias Comerciales | not ranked | #10 | 347 | |
| 11 | Universidad Politecnica de Nicaragua | not ranked | #12 | 265 | |
| 12 | Universidad Iberoamericana de Ciencia y Tecnologia | not ranked | #13 | 155 | |
| 13 | Universidad Centroamericana de Ciencias Empresariales (UCEM) | not ranked | #14 | 146 | |
| 14 | Universidad Nicaragüense de Ciencia y Tecnológica | not ranked | #15 | 71 |
What the two columns mean
In-country is the position the ranking record gives the university among those in its own country, and it is often the more useful number: a university ranked 480th in the world may still be third at home. It is carried over as published, so it does not always follow the order of the other two columns. World rank is the university's QS World University Rankings position. Citations are the number of times work published by the university has been cited, as recorded in OpenAlex; it is the measure used to order universities that QS does not rank at all.
The two do not always agree. A large research university can out-cite a smaller one that sits above it in QS, because QS weighs reputation surveys and staff ratios as well as research.