QS World University Rankings® “Trusted by Students Since 2004”
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
QS World University Rankings® “Trusted by students since 2004” 2012 Report ) Welcome to the 2012/13 QS World University Rankings® Report he ninth annual QS World University As in previous years this information is TRankings arrive at a time of seismic counterbalanced by citations data sourced change in global higher education. from Scopus, the world’s most comprehensive database of research citations. The rankings also The boom in international study continues incorporate figures on student/faculty ratios to reconfigure the landscape, with well over and international students and faculty, collected 3.5 million students currently taking degrees and verified by a multilingual team of analysts abroad. The central importance of human working within QS Intelligence Unit. capital to 21st century economies is underlined by a global drive to expand the proportion of As the need for greater and more nuanced university graduates, while the competition information increases, QS has continued to to innovate through R&D intensifies every adapt. Rather than cramming a greater num- year. And as government budgets are squeezed ber of indicators into a single ranking table in the aftermath of the recession, in many – which in our view simply creates a mess – countries students and parents are being made since 2009 QS has introduced a series of more to contribute ever more to the cost of funding targeted exercises: QS University Rankings: this expansion. Asia; QS University Rankings: Latin America; QS World University Rankings by Subject; QS All of these changes and many more besides Best Student Cities; QS 50 Under 50; and QS mean that a reliable, trusted and rigorous Stars, a new, comprehensive university rating way of comparing universities worldwide has system. become indispensible. This year’s QS World University Rankings draw on record survey Yet despite this innovation, the QS World responses from over 46,000 academics and University Rankings remain the centerpiece of 25,000 graduate employers, the largest ever our research output. Though no ranking pro- snapshot of expert global opinion on compara- vides a magic answer for everyone, QS World tive university performance. University Rankings are a valuable reference tool for millions of students worldwide, and bring vital comparative information into the public domain. We are confident that this year’s Danny Byrne rankings provide the most detailed yet source of information in areas of central importance Danny Byrne is the editor of to students and parents: research, employability, TopUniversities.com teaching and internationalization. Danny Byrne, editor of TopUniversities.com John O’Leary John O’Leary is the editor of the Times Good University Guide and a member of the QS Global Aca- demic Advisory Board www.qs.com QS World University Rankings 2012/13 3 New-look rankings show the unstoppable rise of student mobility MIT overtakes Cambridge and Harvard, as leading universities report a remarkable surge in international student numbers. ByJohn O’Leary his year’s QS World University Rankings Overall, the institutional ranking is more Tare notable not only for the changes in stable than it has ever been. There is only one standing of individual institutions, but for what new entrant to the top 20 – the University of they say about the increasingly international The latest Toronto. The average movement in the top 100 nature of higher education at the top level. is 4.6 places, while in the top 200 the average rankings show is 9.1. Global student mobility is on a seemingly unstoppable rise, with those seeking an overseas an extraordinary Universities from the United States continue education targeting the leading universities. to dominate, although four of the top six are Even after considerable growth in recent years, rise of almost from the UK this year. US institutions occupy the latest rankings show an extraordinary rise the remaining six places in the top ten, plus 13 of almost 10% in international student numbers 10 per cent in of the top 20 and 31 of the top 100 – the same at the top 100 universities. international numbers as last year. As a result, even those universities recording student numbers The UK is again the next most successful a modest increase, or simply maintaining their country, although it has lost one university previous recruitment, are being overtaken on at the top 100 from the top 20, one from the top 100 and one this measure. Cambridge, for example, has seen from the top 200. Its four universities in the a significant increase in international students, universities. top ten and 18 in the top 100 show a system but has dropped five places in this measure, continuing to punch well above its weight. contributing to its fall from first to second place in the overall ranking. Leading universities in other countries ex- MIT would have been higher in previous perience mixed fortunes. Canada, for example, The Massachusetts Institute of Technology years were it not for a relatively low propor- has two universities in the top 20 for the first (MIT) is the new leader, overtaking both Cam- tion of international faculty. A sharp rise in time since the QS World University Rankings bridge and Harvard to top the institutional table this measure is the biggest factor behind its were launched in 2004, with both Toronto and for the first time. The signs of MIT’s rise were rise to overtake both Harvard and Cambridge McGill among that elite group. The University visible in the subject rankings published by QS and take top place. Although it is still not in of British Columbia has also joined the top 50, in June, when it topped 11 of the 28 tables. the top 100 for the proportion of foreign but several other universities have slipped down academics, the increase was the ranking. MIT has attracted attention over the past enough for year mainly for its development its consist- Switzerland is another country with reason of massively open online ently strong to celebrate, as two of its small cadre of uni- courses (MOOCs), which showing in other versities feature in the top 30. ETH Zurich, it pioneered. The MITx measures to capture at 13th, is easily the highest-placed university project has been launched first place. in continental Europe, while EPFL Lausanne to make more courses available is the only other continental institution in the globally and the university is one Harvard, in third place, top 30. of the lead players in a collaboration remains the favourite of with other US and overseas institu- both academics and employ- There is little good news for the rest of tions. Recent months have also seen the ers, who responded in record Europe, although France has two institutions announcement that Susan Hockfield, the numbers to QS polling this year. – ENS Paris and the École Polytechnique, also President, would be stepping down and the It also tops four of the five broad in Paris - in the top 50. The mergers of several remarkably speedy appointment of Rafael faculty rankings published today. institutions in and around Paris may improve Reif, the Provost, to succeed her. matters in future years. 4 QS World University Rankings 2012/13 www.qs.com Some countries that have invested in the South Korea is another Asian country to see Some Middle Eastern universities are also promotion of world-class universities are yet its universities flourish, with three in the top making their mark, particularly those in Saudi to see an impact on their results in the QS 100. Seoul National University has moved into Arabia, where King Saud University is in the rankings, however. Germany, which recently the top 40, while the Korea Advanced Institute top 200 and King Fahd University of Petro- announced a second round of its Excellence of Science and Technology has registered the leum and Minerals is only eight places outside Initiative, has no universities in the top 50, biggest rise in the top 100. it. Eleven Middle Eastern countries are repre- while the top six universities in Japan have all sented at some level in the ranking. dropped marginally. Australia again has more universities in the top 100 than any country outside the US and African universities remain largely absent, In China, however, seven of the top ten UK, although the total is down from eight to however. The University of Cape Town is by universities have gone up, and both Peking and seven. Japan has six universities in far the highest-placed, just outside the top 150. Tsinghua universities remain in the top 50. the top 100 and the Nether- Hong Kong also has three universities in the lands four. When the individual placings have been top 40, including Hong Kong University digested, experts are likely to see the new edi- of Science and Technology, the The new rankings also see the tion of the rankings as confirming the growing youngest institution in the emergence of Latin American uni- mobility of both academics and (especially) top 150. versities, albeit not yet in the higher students. Inevitably, the demand for places is positions. Sao Paulo University is up strongest at the leading universities, while the 30 places and into the top 150, where financial constraints on higher education institu- it is joined by UNAM, of Mexico City. tions around the world mean that there is also A dozen feature in the top 400 – much intense competition for the best candidates. the highest total since the QS rankings began. www.qs.com QS World University Rankings 2012/13 5 6 QS World University Rankings 2012/13 www.qs.com QSWUR_210x297_August.indd 1 14/08/12 8:46 AM QS WORLD UNIVERSITY RANKINGS 2012/13: TOP 500 2012 rank 2011 rank Institution Country/Territory Academic Reputation Employer Reputation Student Faculty per Citations Faculty International Faculty International Students Overall Classification SIZE FOCUS RES.