In the “Times Higher Educationۛ” ranking, the Zurich university just barely missed the top 10. Institutions from Asia made the biggest leaps.
In addition to ETH Zurich, five other Swiss universities made it into the top 200 universities.
ETH has placed itself as the best university in continental Europe in an international university ranking. The technical university was able to move up four places in the annual ranking of the magazine “Times Higher Education” and now ranks 11th – once again making it the best university in continental Europe.
The University of Oxford is right at the top. The venerable British institution has topped the rankings uninterruptedly since 2017. Harvard universities are right behind them, and Cambridge and Stanford universities are tied in third place. All places in the top 10 are occupied by institutions from Great Britain or the USA.
ETH President Joël Mesot is delighted with the top ranking. “It’s great that a Swiss university can assert itself in global competition year after year. That is not a matter of course », he is quoted in a media release.
University of Zurich is slipping
In addition to ETH, five other Swiss universities made it into the top 200 in this year’s ranking. As the second-best Swiss university, ETH Lausanne is in 41st place. The university has lost one place compared to the previous year. The University of Zurich has also slipped from 75th to 82nd place.
The University of Lausanne, on the other hand, was able to make up the most places, rising from 176th place in last year’s ranking to 135th place. The University of Bern also improved, from 101st to 94th place. The University of Basel remained in 101st place.
ETH President Mesot attributes the generally positive rankings of the Swiss universities to the good general conditions and the infrastructure provided by the federal government. International cooperation, especially with European partners, also plays a key role in success.
Asia on the rise
It is noticeable that in recent years more and more universities from Asia have been involved in the top ranks. With the University of Tsinghua (16th) and the University of Beijing (17th), two Chinese institutions made it into the top 20 this year. A few years ago, both were still around places 40 to 50.
In terms of numbers, the universities in Asia have already overtaken those in Europe. The ranking now includes a total of 669 institutions from Asia and 639 from Europe.
Some western universities have already felt the effects of the new competition. Various top universities from Germany, France, the Netherlands, Sweden, Finland, Norway and Ireland lost places in this year’s ranking.
Strong simplification needed
The ranking by the Times Higher Education magazine is based on an evaluation of over 15 million scientific publications and surveys of 40,000 scientists worldwide. The universities are evaluated in the areas of teaching, research, knowledge transfer and international orientation, among other things. With 1,799 listed universities from 104 countries, it claims to be the largest and most diverse university ranking.
The winners can rightly look forward to a good position in the ranking. However, such university rankings are not free from criticism. Experts point out that a ranking always requires a simplification, since otherwise the global institutions would not be comparable with each other. The different higher education systems are therefore not taken into account enough.
Since the differences between the top universities are small, the smallest changes in the rating can also lead to large changes in the ranking. This distorts the ranking.
Paul Cross from Institutional Research at ETH Zurich therefore urges caution: “We should remember that rankings are only one perspective and greatly simplify the complexity and impact of universities on society.”
Nevertheless, university rankings are attracting interest worldwide. The rankings serve as an argument in educational policy or in cooperation with the private sector. The universities use them as advertising in the competition for the best researchers. And many an ambitious prospective student should take a look at the rankings before choosing a place to study.