UK boosts standing but Asian countries 'snap at our heels'

UK boosts standing but Asian countries 'snap at our heels'
8 October 2009

By Phil Baty

US dominance slips, UK improves position but China and Korea close the gap, writes Phil Baty

The UK has improved its standing in the world university rankings, claiming four of the top six places and boosting its representation among the global top 100.

But a strong performance from Asian countries has prompted warnings that the UK's global success is at risk without greater investment to see off such "fierce competition".

The US' Harvard University remains top of the Times Higher Education-QS World University Rankings for the sixth year running. But the UK's University of Cambridge is now second, pushing Yale University into third place.

Fourth place is taken by University College London, up from seventh last year. Fifth place is shared by Imperial College London, up from sixth, and the University of Oxford, which has slipped from fourth spot last year.

"These rankings provide a useful indicator of the growing international dominance of the UK higher education sector," said Steve Smith, president of Universities UK.

"Despite fierce competition, the UK continues to punch well above its weight. We are second only to the US, which spends twice as much as we do as a proportion of national income, and we are closing the gap."

But he added: "It is clear that countries such as China will continue to invest heavily in their higher education systems, so we cannot presume that we will automatically maintain this leading position."

After Oxford and Imperial in fifth place, the next ten places in the table are filled by US institutions.

But the US' overall dominance of world higher education appears to be slipping: it has 32 universities in the top 100 this year, down from 37 last year.

Four US institutions have dropped out of the top 200, giving it a total of 54 that make the grade, down from 58 last year. The UK has 29 institutions in the top 200.

Japan has 11 institutions in the top 200, up from ten last year, and its representation in the top 100 has increased from four to six.

Hong Kong has five institutions in the top 200, up from four last year, including three in the top 50: the University of Hong Kong, up two places to 24th; Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, up four places to 35th; and the Chinese University of Hong Kong, down four places to 46th. City University of Hong Kong rose 23 places from 147th to 124th.

Mainland China has maintained its position, with six institutions in the top 200. South Korea also increased its representation in the full list, with four institutions included in the ranking compared with three last year. Its best-placed institution, Seoul National University, rose from joint 50th to joint 47th.

World’s finest: an Anglo-American affair
Rank Institution
1 Harvard University
2 University of Cambridge
3 Yale University
4 University College London
=5 Imperial College London
=5 University of Oxford
7 University of Chicago
8 Princeton University
9 Massachusetts Institute of Technology
10 California Institute of Technology

Best by country
Country Rank Institution
Australia 17th Australian National University
Canada 18th McGill University
Switzerland =20th ETH Zurich
Japan 22nd University of Tokyo
Hong Kong 24th University of Hong Kong
France 28th Ecole Normale Superiéure, Paris
Singapore 30th National University of Singapore
Ireland =43rd Trinity College Dublin
South Korea =47th Seoul National University
Netherlands =49th University of Amsterdam
China =49th Tsinghua University
Denmark 51st University of Copenhagen
Germany 55th Technical University of Munich
New Zealand =61st University of Auckland
Belgium 65th Katholieke Universiteit Leuven
Sweden =67th Lund University
Taiwan =95th National Taiwan University
Norway 101st University of Oslo
Israel 102nd Hebrew University of Jerusalem

Question of resources

In light of the results and ahead of the publication of the Government's Higher Education Framework, due this month, the mission groups representing the UK's research-intensive institutions warned that the sector needed more resources to remain competitive.

Wendy Piatt, director-general of the Russell Group of large research-intensive universities, said that "China and Korea, which are investing massively in their best institutions, are snapping at our heels. There is no mistaking the alarm bell warning that our success is at risk if we as a nation don't take action to fight off such fierce competition."

She said that the recent Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development report, Education at a Glance, confirms that the UK's rivals are "investing much more public and private money in higher education - with the UK below average in terms of total higher education investment as a proportion of gross domestic product".

"Following enormous investment, China has overtaken the UK in terms of total research publications. Japan and South Korea are investing hugely in their leading universities and, as this table indicates, it is starting to pay off," Dr Piatt added.

"If we allow ourselves to fall behind our international rivals, we will lose our ability to attract world-class academics, vital business investment and leading international students.

"League-table bragging rights would be the least of our worries."

Paul Marshall, executive director of the 1994 Group of smaller research-intensive universities, said: "The Government must target policy and funding so that leading UK universities can continue to compete with the world's best. It must not spread resources so thinly that we risk damaging our world-class research-intensive universities."

In the UK, the University of Edinburgh jumped into the top 20 for the first time, from 23rd last year to joint 20th.

Excluding the UK, Europe has 21 institutions in the top 100, up from 19 in 2008. ETH Zurich is the highest-placed institution.

Germany, in particular, saw improvements, with the University of Karlsruhe making it into the top 200 (184th). Germany's best-placed institution, the Technical University of Munich, rose from 78th to joint 55th.

Norway (with two institutions in the top 200), Sweden (with five) and Russia (with two) all improved their representation.

The highest-placed institution outside the US and UK was the Australian National University, which slipped from 16th to 17th. Australia held its own in the rankings, with eight universities in the top 100 compared with seven last year.

Canada's highest-placed institution, McGill University, took 18th position, up two places from last year. In general, Canada saw a decline in its standing, with a drop from 12 to 11 institutions.

The UK's strong performance was celebrated by Higher Education Minister David Lammy. Writing in the special rankings supplement in this issue of Times Higher Education (see centre pages), Mr Lammy points out that the UK undertakes 5 per cent of the world's scientific research with only 1 per cent of the world's population, "produces more publications and citations per researcher and per pound of public funding than any of our major competitors", and attracts almost 12 per cent of all overseas students.

Pat Killingley, the British Council's director of higher education, said that the rankings will "help us to continue to attract fresh talent to UK education". She added that the growing importance of collaboration meant that rising Asian stars "should be viewed more as potential partners than as rivals".

phil.baty@tsleducation.com