World University Rankings 2015-2016: results announced | Times Higher Education

7/24/2019 World University Rankings 2015-2016: results announced | Times Higher Education

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10/4/15, 00:49World University Rankings 2015-2016: results announced | Times Higher Education

Page 1 of 5https://www.timeshighereducation.com/news/world-university-rankings-2015-2016-results-announced

September 30 2015

World University Rankings 2015-2016: resultsannouncedUS continues to lose its grip as institutions in Europe up their game

Source: Peter Grundy

The world dominance of universities in the US has further waned in the Times Higher Education

(https://www.timeshighereducation.com/world-university-rankings/2016/world-ranking) World University

Rankings 2015-2016 (https://www.timeshighereducation.com/world-university-rankings/2016/world-

ranking), despite the fact that the country boasts almost a fifth of institutions in the table.

A total of 147 US universities feature in the top 800 the largest THE rankings to date

(https://www.timeshighereducation.com/blog/world-university-rankings-blog-800-universities-be-

included-years-rankings) including the California Institute of Technology

(https://www.timeshighereducation.com/world-university-rankings/california-institute-technology?

ranking-dataset=133819), which claims pole position for the fifth consecutive year.

However, there are signs of decline for the traditional Western powerhouse lower down in the table. The US now has

63 universities in the top 200, down from 74 last year, and 77 the year before. Six of these make the top 10, compared

with seven last year; after Caltech, these are: Stanford (https://www.timeshighereducation.com/world-

university-rankings/stanford-university?ranking-dataset=133819)(third), Massachusetts Institute ofTechnology (https://www.timeshighereducation.com/world-university-rankings/massachusetts-institute-

of-technology?ranking-dataset=133819)(fifth), Harvard (https://www.timeshighereducation.com/world-

university-rankings/harvard-university?ranking-dataset=133819)(sixth - its first time outside the top four in

the rankings 12-year history), Princeton (https://www.timeshighereducation.com/world-university-

rankings/princeton-university?ranking-dataset=133819)(seventh) and the University of Chicago

(https://www.timeshighereducation.com/world-university-rankings/university-of-chicago?ranking-

dataset=133819)(10th). The UKs universities of Oxford (https://www.timeshighereducation.com/world-

university-rankings/university-of-oxford?ranking-dataset=133819)(second), Cambridge

(https://www.timeshighereducation.com/world-university-rankings/university-of-cambridge?ranking-

dataset=133819)(fourth) and Imperial College London (https://www.timeshighereducation.com/world-

university-rankings/imperial-college-london?ranking-dataset=133819) (eighth), and Switzerlands ETH

Zurich Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich (https://www.timeshighereducation.com/world-

university-rankings/eth-zurich-swiss-federal-institute-of-technology-zurich?ranking-dataset=133819)

(ninth) fill the rest of the top 10.

Hay Professor inPaediatric Health

Technologies(https://jobs.timeshighereducation.com/jtrackid=10)

UNIVERSITY OF STRATHCLYDE

Lecturer in Healthand Social Care(https://jobs.timeshighereducation.com/jtrackid=10)

NEWMAN UNIVERSITY

Associate Dean(Education),Quality andInnovation

(https://jobs.timeshighereducation.com/jtrackid=10)

AUSTRALIAN NATIONAL UNIVERSITY (ANU)

Lecturer in History(https://jobs.timeshighereducation.com/jtrackid=10)

ST MARYS UNIVERSITY,TWICKENHAM

Head of Quality(https://jobs.timeshighereducation.com/jtrackid=10)

UNIVERSITY OF DERBY

FEATURED JOBS

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Phil Baty, THE rankings editor, said that the US movement is to some degree owing to significant improvements to

the rankings data sources this year, with improved coverage of research not published in English and a better

geographical spread of responses to our academic reputation survey.

However, he added that it also demonstrates that the US leading status as the worlds top magnet for academic and

student talent cannot be taken for granted, citing figures that show that 47 states in the US

(https://www.timeshighereducation.com/news/us-un-excellence-initiative-will-harm-institutions-says-

scholar)have implemented higher education funding cuts since the global recession in 2008.

World University Rankings 2015-2016: top 10

Simon Marginson, professor of international higher education at the UCL Institute of Education, said that USresearch is not declining in the absolute sense, but rather other countries are improving and crowding into the top

200 space.

One of these competitor nations is the UK, which has improved its standing this year. A total of 78 UK institutions

feature in the top 800, with 34 of these sitting in the first quarter, up from 29 last year.

Other countries in Europe have also performed well. Germany has 20 universities in the top 200, a rise of eight since

last year, while the Netherlands has 12 in the first quarter, up from 11. Meanwhile, Switzerlands ETH Zurich is the

first non-Anglo-American institution to make the top 10 for a decade.

Overall, Europe has 345 universities in the world top 800, meaning its institutions comprise more than two-fifths of

the table.

Professor Marginson said that the results reveal that 15 years of consolidation of higher education, in the Nordic

countries, the Low Countries and German-speaking world, is now bearing fruit.

In particular, he cited national programmes to foster research concentrations, the European Research Area grant

programmes, the Bologna-instigated reforms, and carefully managed immigration policies that decouple high-talent

recruitment from other forms of migration as strategies that have improved their university systems.

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(https://www.timeshighereducation.com/sites/default/files/wur-2015-2016-top-universities-by-region-

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Europe appears to be becoming more competitive at postdoctoral stage the point where the US has long been

overwhelmingly dominant in global flows of talent, he added.

However, he warned that the UKs position in the rankings may decline over a decade or so if it continues to be

semi-paralysed by immigration policies, while an exit from the European Union would have sharper, earlier

effects.

Research depends on the free movement of both ideas and people, and countries that adopt a more closed stance

pay the price in the end. This is a prime cause of the substantial long-term declines in the global position of research

in both Japan and Russia, he said.

Overall, institutions from 70 countries, 29 more than last year, feature in this years rankings, with several countries

including Indonesia, Bangladesh and Kenya being represented for the first time.

The THEWorld University Rankings use 13 performance indicators to examine universities strengths. View the full

methodology (https://www.timeshighereducation.com/world-university-rankings/2016/world-

ranking/methodology), along with theWorld University Rankings 2015-2016 top 800

(https://www.timeshighereducation.com/world-university-rankings/2016/world-ranking).

[email protected] (mailto:[email protected])

Listen to the World University Rankings 2015-2016 podcast

(https://www.timeshighereducation.com/opinion/podcast-world-university-rankings-2015-2016-results)

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first time the city-state has claimed the continents top spot in the rankings 12-year history.

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Overall, this years rankings results provide a mixed picture for Asia; while Chinas performance remains steady, with

the country claiming 37 institutions in the top 800, including two in the elite top 50, Japan and South Korea have

both fallen down the list. Japan has just two institutions in the world top 200, compared with five last year, while

South Korea has just one in the top 100, down from three.

But despite its diminishing performance, Japan still has strength in depth: it is third place in the world in terms of

the number of institutions represented, with 41 appearing in the top 800.

Tough times for Japan and disappointment for South Korea mean that leading Asian nations grip on the higher

ranks of the THEWorld University Rankings is loose, said Phil Baty, THErankings editor.

Many institutions, particularly in East Asia, have been focusing heavily on attaining world-class status, backed with

funding and powerful political will. But this ranking demonstrates how difficult a task this is, as universities right

across the world continue to improve.

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POSTSCRIPT:

Print headline: US grows weaker as Europe gains in strength

READER'S COMMENTS (3)

I have a doubt: are the (/comment/4159#comment-4159)

I have a doubt: are the rankings 2015-2016 based on the 2014 data? or 2015 ones?

Log in (/user/login?destination=node/133561%23comment-form)or register (/user/register?

destination=node/133561%23comment-form)to post comments

Of all the egregious twaddle (/comment/4171#comment-4171)

Of all the egregious twaddle you publish, this has to be the most ridiculous: "US continues to lose its grip as

institutions in Europe up their game". All the signi!cant changes from last year's table are not do to

institutions changing, but because of your arbitrary - and, frankly, extremely stupid - changes in

methodology. I challenge you to disprove the above assertion by publishing in full a version of this year'sleague table using the same input data but last year's methodology. Unless and until you do this you have

no right to be taken seriously by anyone.
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There is still a weakness in (/comment/4195#comment-4195)

There is still a weakness in the criteria used for the rankings. #1 Caltech OK ( I know it gets the students with

the highest High school SAT scores in the US), but L'Ecole Polytechnique near Paris, dropping 40 positions at

#101 !?, when each year the new class of 400 french students are among the very top 500 sciences

students of a nation of 65 M people. Every single one of these 400 students was selected at about 20 years

old after several weeks of grueling national competitive exam and 2 years of preparation after high school,

and could easily follow the sciences cursus in any US or British university. There is no mistake when

admitted at l'Ecole Polytechnique, you know that each one of these brilliant students, without any doubt

would easily be in the top 1% of the student body of universities like Ohio State or Michigan State, which are

ranked in the top 100 in the Times Rankings, and ranked higher than l'Ecole Polytechnique... The academic

level of the average student at l'ecole polytechnique and at those 2 US state universities is just not

comparable ( when it comes to academics the academic level of a student at Polytechnique can only

compared to the one of students at Harvard, Caltech, MIT and the likes ) Somehow your ranking should

make a larger place to the student academic level among the criteria used to rank the universities,

otherwise what is the value of the rankings ?. I am asking the question: How many students from Ecole

Polytechnique even apply to Ohio State or Michigan State for grad school or a PhD? Probably none as they

apply and get admitted to much better known universities... And reciprocally how many students from these

2 State universities would be able to follow classes at Polytechnique ? I know from reading Caltech and MIT

blogs that their students are warned that an exchange at l'Ecole Polytechnique is not going to be a walk in

the park...



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