US Varsities Dominate in Times Higher Education Global Rankings

The Times Higher Education global rankings for 2012-13, published October 4, 2012 has the American universities dominating the chart yet again with top seven spots out of the top 10. However, U.K. universities are slipping down the international league table, while the Asian institutions are on the rise.

The top ten positions remain largely stable in comparison to the previous year’s ranking. While California Institute of Technology has retained the first spot on the charts, the second joint place was secured by Stanford University and University of Oxford. Harvard University however has slipped to the fourth position. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Princeton University, University of Cambridge, Imperial College London, University of California and University of Chicago are the top 10 universities for the year 2012-13. However, among the top 30, University of Melbourne moved to 28 from 37 last year, while the National University of Singapore has moved up 11 spots to secure the 29^th spot this year. On the other hand, the universities that have dropped include Mc Gill University and University of Wisconsin. University of Wisconsin has secured the 28^th spot against the 27^th last year, while Mc Gill slipped down from 31 to 34.

Although 76 U.S universities secured a spot in the top 200, 51 universities witnessed a drop in the global rankings. The average drop rate is 6.5 places for the U.S, while for the U.K it stands at 6.7. Only 10 U.K universities made it to the top 100 rankings this year, against the 12 universities in the last year and 14 in 2010-2011. Beyond the elite universities that include Oxford, Imperial College, Cambridge and University of London, several other universities have witnessed a collapse in their global position. The University of St Andrews and the University of Sussex have even lost their position in the top 100 universities, while the University of Dundee has fallen out of the top 200.

Despite many of the U.K universities slipping down the ranking, there are a few that have climbed the ranking ladder. The London School of Economics has moved up 8 spots to secure the 39^th place, while the University of Edinburg has climbed up 4 spots to secure the 32^nd ranking. The University of York has secured the 103^rd spot against the joint 121^st last year.

In all U.K’s seven universities have made it to the top 50, and 31 have secured a ranking in the top 200, while U.S is leading with top 7 positions in the top 10, and 76 rankings in top 200. The Asian institutes from Singapore, China, South Korea and Taiwan were seen marching up in the global rankings.