Twelve Dutch universities made it into the top 200 of the Times Higher Education (THE) last year, and eight were even among the best 100. This time, only eleven universities made the list. On top of that, Maastricht and Groningen lost their common 98th position and drop to 101 and 117 respectively. Twente University has disappeared from the ranking entirely.

Four universities can pride themselves on their positions, however. Leiden climbs from 67 to 64, making it the best Dutch university according to the Brits. The two Amsterdam universities and Wageningen see a modest rise in the rankings.TU/e drops 38 positions this year, which seems to have to do with their score in the category citations mostly, which dropped from 63.6 to 57.3.

The other four important criteria – education, international standing, research, and research funding through third parties – scored more or less the same. For the latter category, TU/e scores exceptionally high with 99.9 percent, but it makes up only 2.5 percent of the final score.

In the ranking by country, the Netherlands drops to a fourth place, but still does better than countries like Canada, France, Australia, and Sweden. The United Stated and Great Britain still dominate the ranking. The California Institute of Technology tops the list, as it did last year.For the ranking, Times Higher Education and research agency Thomson Reuters look at numerous university features, including the reputation of education and research, the influence of scientific publications, funding from businesses, the number of PhDs, et cetera.

Dutch Universities in THE ranking