Ratings

Aenert news. Ratings
The Times Higher Education World University Rankings is a university ranking published annually by the Times Higher Education magazine. Formerly, the magazine used to collaborate with Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) to release a joint THE-QS World University Rankings until they separated in 2009 and the publishers of Times Higher Education magazine teamed up Thomson Reuters for a new ranking system from 2010 to 2013. Finally in 2014, the magazine signed an agreement with Elsevier to provide it with the data used in compiling its annual rankings.

The rankings are based on 13 performance indicators evaluating an institution’s performance across four areas, including teaching, research, knowledge transfer and international outlook. This year’s ranking, comprises 1,799 universities in 104 countries and regions. It analysed over 121 million citations in more than 15.5 million research publications and included survey responses from 40,000 scholars globally. In total, 680,000 data submitted from more than 2,500 institutions was collected. Alongside the ranked 1,799 universities, 546 universities were listed with “reporter” status, which means that they provided data but did not meet the eligibility criteria to receive a rank.



Stanford University. Aenert Photos

In this year’s ranking, the University of Oxford tops the ranking for the seventh consecutive year. Harvard University retains second place whereas the University of Cambridge moves up from fifth position to the joint third place alongside Stanford University. The new entry with the highest ranking is Humanitas University located in Italy which can be found in the 201-250 bracket. The United States has once again obtained the greatest number of entries, securing spots for 177 institutions, and is also the most represented country in the top 200. Another country with a high number of representatives in the top 200 is Mainland China, overtaking Australia which drops to fifth position in this category. Five countries enter the ranking for the first time. All of them are situated in Africa (Zambia, Namibia, Mozambique, Zimbabwe and Mauritius). Harvard takes the lead in the teaching pillar, while Oxford tops the research pillar. Macau University of Science and Technology (placed in the 201-250 bracket) heads the international pillar.

The top 10 is dominated by US universities. Seven institutions of this country have made it into this bracket. The remaining three positions are taken up by universities located in the UK. Apart from the University of Oxford, Harvard University, the University of Cambridge and Stanford University (both in joint 3^rd position, no 4^th place was awarded), MIT and Caltech occupy places five and six, whereas Princeton University, University of California Berkeley, Yale University and the Imperial College of London received places 7 to 10.



University of Cambridge. Aenert Photos

The University of Oxford which was awarded the top spot can look back on centuries of successful education as well as outstanding research efforts and achievements. Its many interdisciplinary research labs try to find solutions to many problematic aspects of society, including, of course, to one of the most pressing issues: energy security and the energy transition. Current projects, for example, include charging-whilst-parking solutions for electric vehicles, electricity supply to homes and industry by means of a robust and low-cost nano-grid solution or integration of low-impact energy systems into the electricity supply. The University of Cambridge in its Energy, Fluid Mechanics and Turbomachinery division, meanwhile, researches the possibilities of carbon capture or aerodynamic loads on a wind-tunnel model. Caltech also places one of its research focusses on energy efficiency and has launched an interesting project comprising operation of its own campus power plant to generate electricity. With the help of this installation, it is now able to export more electricity than it imports and proves that infrastructure investments are important when it comes to laying the foundation for a change in utility systems able to reduce emissions. However, also Asian universities are tirelessly researching new methods of smart energy production. The highest entry in the international pillar, the Macau University of Science and Technology, is dedicated to tackling the problem of growing cities owing to an increase in population and has launched several initiatives including the State Key Laboratory in the Internet of Things for Smart City. The laboratory carries out research on e.g. intelligent sensing and network communication, intelligent technology, smart energy, intelligent transportation and disaster prevention.



Imperial College of London. Aenert Photos

This year’s rankings have once again shown that universities concentrating their efforts on solving the most pressing issues of society and helping make life on Earth more sustainable achieve more and score better in the rankings.

By the Editorial Board