The British University of Oxford is the highest rated university in the world for the seventh consecutive year. The Netherlands is represented in the annual top 100 with seven universities It is surprising that Asia is for the first time in the list with the most universities in Europe.
The highest-scoring Dutch university is Wageningen University & Research for the fourth consecutive year. The school dropped from seat 53 to seat 59 in World university rankings. Directly behind it is the University of Amsterdam. Among the top 100 also the universities of Utrecht (ranking 66), Delft (70), Groningen (75), Leiden (77) and Rotterdam (80).
With the exception of Wageningen, Groningen and Rotterdam, all Dutch universities have moved up a few places in the top 100. The VU University of Amsterdam, the Radboud University of Nijmegen and the University of Maastricht are among the top 150. Eindhoven, Tilburg and Twente are not in the top 200.
Aside from Oxford, Harvard, Cambridge and Stanford top the list. The top looks basically the same as in previous years.
A total of 1,799 universities surveyed, Asia is advancing
A shift can be seen further down the list. For example, Asia has more universities than Europe on the list for the first time: 669 versus 639. Among the top 20 are three universities from Asia and one from continental Europe. The British magazine Times of higher educationwho compiles the list, speaks of “an important shift in the balance of power in the knowledge economy”.
Europe has, according to the magazine, “an extraordinarily rich and diverse heritage of excellence, but it cannot afford to stand by and watch. You have to run very fast to remain firm in the world rankings. If you lose ground, there is a risk of a vicious circle, which eventually loses access to talents and collaborations “.
The ranking of Times of higher education it is one of the most important international lists for the evaluation of university performance. For the latest list, 1,799 different universities in 104 countries and territories were evaluated. This includes education, research, knowledge transfer and international positioning.
