LONDON, June 18, 2014 /PRNewswire/ --

Published today at http://www.TopUniversities.com #QSWUR

QS University Rankings: BRICS, which compares the Top 200 institutions in Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, identifies China as the most likely of the BRICS nations to achieve its goal of developing world-class universities.

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Ben Sowter, QS head of research says: "The term BRICS has become shorthand for the idea that the world's economic future is not in the hands of traditional players such as the US, Europe and Japan.  To compete with the existing developed world, these fast growing economies need world-class university systems."

China claims six of the top 10 places, ahead of Brazil (2), Russia (1) and South Africa (1).  Russia with 53 institutions in the top 200 is second only to China (71). Yet only seven Russian institutions make the top 50, fewer China (21), Brazil (10), and India (9).

India is the only nation without a university in the top 10, though five IIT make the top 20.

    Top 10
    2014            2013
      1               1        TSINGHUA UNIVERSITY                                 CN
      2               2        PEKING UNIVERSITY                                   CN
      3               3        LOMONOSOV MOSCOW STATE UNIVERSITY                   RU
      4               6=       UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY OF CHINA       CN
      5               4        FUDAN UNIVERSITY                                    CN
      6               5        NANJING UNIVERSITY                                  CN
      7               8        UNIVERSIDADE DE SÃO PAULO                           BR
      8               6=       SHANGHAI JIAO TONG UNIVERSITY                       CN
      9=             10        UNIVERSIDADE ESTADUAL DE CAMPINAS                   BR
      9=             11        UNIVERSITY OF CAPE TOWN                             ZA


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"The development of Chinese higher education over the past 20 years has been nothing short of extraordinary," adds Sowter. "Universities such as Tsinghua and Peking have now established themselves among the world's major producers of scientific research."

China has increased its research and development funding by an average of 18% per year since 2008. Its 'C9 League' institutions have been earmarked as challengers to the US 'Ivy League', and six of them make the top 10 in today's ranking.

 Ms Irani, India's new minister for universities, has set a target of raising spending on education to 6% of GDP from less than 4% currently. She expects universities to improve and to align their courses closely with the jobs market.

Russia has announced plans to achieve five universities in the global top 100 by 2020, while India has ambitions to establish 14 world-class universities under the government's "brain gain" policy.

"At a time when government spending is stalling in much of the West, the BRICS nations have set their sights on developing world-class universities sooner rather than later," Sowter states.

SOURCE QS Quacquarelli Symonds