The United States is now home to the four best universities in the world, according to the QS World University Rankings 2018.
The latest rankings reveal that the California Institute of Technology has overtaken Cambridge University to sit in fourth place, behind fellow US institutions Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Stanford University and Harvard University. It is the sixth consecutive year that MIT has topped the rankings – a record.
While UK universities occupied the next four spots – Cambridge, Oxford, University of College London and Imperial College London – overall, UK universities struggled in this year’s rankings. Fifty-one of the United Kingdom’s 76 universities fell, reflecting prolonged funding cuts, the increasing use of adjunct faculty, improvements from other nations, and concerns about the potential impact of Brexit.
The only institution from outside of the United States and UK to be placed in the top ten was Eth Zurich, in tenth place. The University of Chicago was ninth.
Among other highlights from this year’s report include:
– Institutions with a strong technological focus performing well. Singapore’s Nanyang Technological University rises to 11th, Korea’s KAIST reaches a record high (41st), while Delft University of Technology becomes the Netherlands’ leading university for the first time since 2005;
– Australian institutions consistently improve. Australian National University (20th) returns to the top 20;
– Six Chinese universities now feature in the Top 100, two more than last year;
– India boasts three universities among the Top 200, one more than last year;
– Lomonosov Moscow State University (95th) rises into the top 100; and
– Latin American institutions struggle to improve, but the Universidad de Buenos Aires reaches its highest-ever position (75th).
This is the 14th edition of the QS World University Rankings. This year 959 universities were ranked for the study.
Article published 12th June 2017