As usual, the absolute top of the list – officially called the Academic Ranking of World Universities, or ARWU – is dominated by the American Ivy League, which includes universities like Harvard and Stanford. Oxford and Cambridge, the UK’s leading universities, have also each secured a top-10 spot.

At number 52, Utrecht University is the highest-ranking Dutch institution, dropping three places compared to last year. The University of Groningen came in at 69 this year, while Erasmus University Rotterdam and Leiden University share 80th place.

TU/e does not occupy a specific position in the new ranking. For the past two years TU/e was one of the universities ranked in the group 301 to 400. This year TU/e has lost ground and dropped down a category. It now sits among the universities placed 401 to 500. Also in this group is the University of Twente. Of the Dutch universities, Tilburg University brings up the rear with a position among the group ranked 601 to 700.

Nobel Prizes

One important criterion for the Shanghai Ranking is how many Nobel laureates and Fields Medal winners (the Nobel Prize equivalent for mathematics) universities have produced. The ranking also considers publication numbers in leading scientific journals such as Science and Nature, and the number of frequently cited scientists universities employ. Alumni play a role as well: Nobel Prize and Fields Medal winners also count towards the scores of their alma maters.

Rankings like these are widely criticised within the academic community, if only because they barely consider educational performance. It is also thought that researchers use all kinds of tricks to boost their scientific ‘scores’, for example by artificially inflating their publication output or exaggerating the impact of their research results.

© HOP. Source: www.shanghairanking.com