Institutions in the US have once again triumphed in the Academic Ranking of World Universities, continuing their domination by claiming 16 of the top 20 institutions worldwide. Meanwhile, the number of British universities in the top 500 has fallen by three and the number of Mainland China universities has risen from 62 to 66.
Harvard University claimed the number one position for the 17th time, followed by Stanford and the UK’s University of Cambridge in second and third places respectively.
“It has usually avoided the volatility that has sometimes undermined other global rankings”
Of the top 20, joining the University of Cambridge are fellow British institutions the University of Oxford at number seven and University College London at 17th position.
ETH Zurich is the only university from continental Europe in the top 20, ranked 19th overall, while the University of Copenhagen is ranked 26.
US universities took 45 of the top-rated 100 institutions, 137 among the top 500 and 206 overall among the top 1,000.
Touted as the “most trustworthy” university rankings, thanks to its transparent methodology and objective third-party data, ARWU placed nine Asian institutions in the top 100.
Japan’s University of Tokyo (25th) and Kyoto University (32nd) were highest on the list, while Nagoya University was in 90th position.
From China, Tsinghua University was placed in 43rd, followed by three other universities – Peking University at 53 and Zhejiang University at 70. Shanghai Jiao Tong University, in position 82, entered the top 100 for the first time.
Two institutions from Singapore were in the top 100, with the National University of Singapore at 67 and Nanyang Technological University at 73.
Singaporean and Chinese universities entered top 100 in the rankings for the first time in 2016.
Seven Australian universities joined them in the top 100, with The University of Melbourne (41st) rated above other universities in Oceania. The University of New South Wales (94th) made its first-ever appearance in the Top 100.
In a statement, IREG Observatory on Academic Ranking and Excellence said the ranking is well regarded for a consistent and transparent methodology, using six indicators derived from publicly accessible data.
“It has usually avoided the volatility that has sometimes undermined other global rankings,” it explained.
“Further down the table, there is a great deal of movement up and down much of it resulting from the addition of “cross-field” researchers to the lists.
“Cairo University jumped 64 places largely as a result of the addition of a single highly cited researcher while Pennsylvania State University has suffered a reduction in its Highly Cited score and fallen from 76th to 98th.”
However, long term trends have continued, the statement explained.
“The number of British universities in the top 500 has fallen by three and the US by two. The number of Mainland China universities has risen from 62 to 66 and Shanghai Jiao Tong University has entered the top 100.”
President of the Higher Education Policy Institute, Bahram Bekhradnia, who has previously written a report calling for universities and governments to discount rankings when deciding their priorities, policies and actions, said the rankings were “more honest” than others.
“The Shanghai rankings incorporate only research criteria and do not pretend to assess universities on the basis of anything other than research. They are rankings of research quality, and explicitly so,” Bekhradnia told The PIE News.
“In that respect, they are more honest than the other rankings which pretended to assess other dimensions of the university’s activity but do not have the data on which to make those assessments, and so effectively use research criteria and dress those up as indications of teaching and other things,” he added.
“A better faculty to student ratio does not mean smaller class sizes or more focus on teaching”
“For example, faculty to student ratios – the more research a university does the more staff it employs and therefore the better its faculty to student ratio,” Bekhradnia continued.
“A better faculty to student ratio does not mean smaller class sizes or more focus on teaching.
“Other absurdities are the heavy dependence on reputation surveys – a university’s reputation is largely if not exclusively based on its research performance and what other academics know of the research.
“So these rankings that do not purport to measure anything else are, at least, honest.”
