Korean Universities Make Global Top 100

South African universities have dropped markedly in the QS World University Rankings survey, with the country’s best ranked tertiary institution, the University of Cape Town, slipping 20 places.

About nine Indian universities lose ground on faculty/student ratio.

University of Auckland achieved the highest ranking of 81, followed by University of Otago at 169.

Presidents of both Trinity College and UCD believe the drop in rankings is due to a lack of investment in universities in Ireland.

Elsewhere in Wales, Bangor University was ranked in the 411-420 bracket for the second year in succession and Aberystwyth University rose to 491-500, from the 501-550 cluster last year.

Four Korean universities have made it into the world’s top 100 in the latest world rankings.

Cardiff University’s hopes of ranking in the world’s top 100 higher education institutions have been dealt a blow after falling nearly 20 places in a new global league table. This is despite it being a “small” ranked university, and its land-based specialisation meaning it is not represented in some subject areas such as the arts and unable to accumulate points towards total rankings from them.

Heads of universities said the fall in the global rankings of Irish universities was the effect of a decade of cutbacks to the sector, and third-level representatives warned of a crisis in the colleges caused by growing student numbers and a lack of investment. And London still ranks as the city with more top 40 institutions than any other city in the world. “Institutions in countries that provide high levels of targeted funding, whether from endowments or from the public purse, are rising”, said Ben Sowter, head of research at QS.

ETH Zurich has reached its highest ever position in the QS World University Rankings, confirming its status as continental Europe’s best university.

The six criteria used to organize the rankings are: academic reputation, employer reputation, student-to-faculty ratio, citations per faculty, and global student and worldwide faculty ratio.

Compared with the 47 per cent of top-400 American institutions and 68 per cent of top-400 Asian institutions that have seen rises, it appears that the US is extending its dominance of the higher education sector, while institutions in China, Japan, Russia, Singapore, and South Korea continue to make inroads.