Ranking Reveals World's Top Countries for Higher Education
LONDON, May 9, 2013 /PRNewswire/ --
The second annual Universitas 21 rankings of countries which are the 'best' at providing higher education were announced today (10 May 2013) at an event at the University of British Columbia (UBC) in Vancouver, Canada.
The Universitas 21 ranking is the only ranking in the world to benchmark national higher education systems, a crucial measure for governments whose nation's economic development depends upon an educated and skilled workforce and technological improvements, based on research, that raise productivity.
Universitas 21 is a global network of leading research universities. Research authors at the Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, University of Melbourne, looked at data from 50 countries across 22 different measures. The range of measures is grouped under four headings: resources (investment by government and private sector), output (research performance as well as the production of an educated workforce which meets labour market needs), connectivity (international networks and collaborations which now include web-based measures) and environment (government policy and regulation, diversity and participation opportunities). Population size is also taken into account.
Overall, the top five countries in the 2013 rankings are: USA (unchanged since 2012), Sweden (unchanged since 2012), Switzerland (6th in 2012), Canada (3rd in 2012) and Denmark (unchanged at number 5). The largest changes in the rankings occurred as a result of improved measures becoming available for a number of non-OECD countries. The largest increase occurs for Malaysia which improves nine places to 27th.
Government funding of higher education as a percentage of GDP is the highest in Saudi Arabia followed by Malaysia and Finland, but when private expenditure is added in, funding is highest in the United States and Korea followed by Canada, Chile, Malaysia and Saudi Arabia.
Worldwide, governments are spending more on higher education as a percentage of GDP. Compared with 2012 rankings the median level of spending has increased from 0.95 to 1.10 per cent of GDP which means that government spending needs to have increased to maintain a nation's ranking. Norway, where government spending fell as a share of GDP, has fallen from equal first ranked in this measure in 2012 to 14th in 2013. The United States has slipped from 19 to 27 and Croatia from 28 to 37. Conversely, Russia's ranking in this measure rose from 26 to 18.
Expenditure on research and development is highest in Denmark and Sweden.
In most countries females make up at least 50% of students but in only four countries do females comprise at least 50% of academic staff (Finland, New Zealand, Russia and Thailand). The countries with the lowest proportion of female staff are Iran and Japan.
International students form the highest proportions of total student numbers in Singapore, Australia, Austria, the UK and Switzerland. The largest increase from the 2012 rankings occurred in Hong Kong SAR which rose from 21st to 15th place. International research collaboration is most prominent in Switzerland, Hong Kong SAR, Indonesia, Denmark and Belgium and is lowest in Iran, Turkey and China. Higher education institutions in Sweden and the Netherlands have the most extensive open access website material but US institutions dominate the extent to which external agents access information on websites.
Switzerland and Sweden top the rankings for world class universities per head of population, but the United States and United Kingdom are ranked first and second on the quality of 'best three universities'.
The United States dominates the number of articles published with China producing a little over half of the United States number. The next ranked countries, UK and Japan, each produce about one-quarter of the United States' total. Sweden produces the largest number of articles per head of population, followed by Switzerland, Finland and Australia.
Enrolment rates are highest in Korea, followed by Canada, Finland and the United States. The stock of graduates as a percentage of the workforce is highest in Canada and Israel.
Overall the scores for output (research performance and the production of an educated workforce which meets labour market needs) are highest for the United States followed by the United Kingdom and Canada.
Lead author, Professor Ross Williams at the University of Melbourne, said: "The Universitas 21 rankings provide a benchmark that a country can use to evaluate the performance of its higher education system against the world's best and against other countries in their region or at similar levels of economic development.
"The message from the 2013 rankings is that in a competitive global world if a nation does not continually improve its system of higher education its relative performance will decline. In the medium term this is likely to show up in reduced economic competitiveness."
Jane Usherwood, Universitas 21 Secretary General, said: "The Universitas 21 Ranking of National Higher Education Systems underlines the importance of the context in which universities work. This year's report shows that although the effects of the Global Financial Crisis are starting to be reflected in the data, investment in higher education globally appears to be holding up, as the benefits of a vibrant higher education sector on economic and societal development is appreciated. As an established global network of universities, Universitas 21 is pleased to support this important research in international higher education."
Founded in 1997, Universitas 21 is a leading network of currently 24 research-intensive universities which work together to connect students and staff and to provide advocacy for the internationalisation of higher education.
Notes for editors:
For each group of measures the highest scoring country is given a score of 100 and all other countries are expressed as a percentage of the highest score.
Full rankings from 2012 can be found at: http://www.universitas21.com/link/rankings. The 2013 rankings will be added to the site at 00.01 (GMT) on Thursday 9th May.
Universitas 21 rankings 2013
OVERALL RESOURCES ENVIRONMENT
United
1 States 100 1 Denmark 100 1 Netherlands 100
2 Sweden 85.2 2 Canada 97 2 New Zealand 99
United
3 Switzerland 81.6 3 Sweden 96 3 States 99
4 Canada 80 4 Finland 92 4 Poland 97
United
5 Denmark 79.8 5 States 91 5 Belgium 97
Hong Kong
6 Finland 79.4 6 Switzerland 89 6 SAR 97
Saudi
7 Netherlands 78.2 7 Arabia 84 7 Finland 96
8 Australia 77.2 8 Singapore 83 8 Australia 96
9 Singapore 76.6 9 Netherlands 83 9 Bulgaria 96
United
10 Kingdom 74.9 10 Norway 79 10 Sweden 93
Czech
11 Austria 71.8 11 Austria 76 11 Republic 93
11 Norway 71.8 12 Ireland 74 12 Singapore 92
United
13 Belgium 71 13 Malaysia 71 13 Kingdom 91
14 New Zealand 69.7 14 Belgium 70 14 France 90
15 Germany 68.2 15 France 68 15 Taiwan 90
Hong Kong
16 SAR 67.6 16 Germany 65 16 Romania 90
16 France 67.6 17 Australia 64 17 Norway 90
18 Ireland 66.8 18 South Korea 63 18 Japan 89
19 Israel 63.8 19 Israel 61 19 Portugal 89
20 Spain 60.5 20 Portugal 59 20 Slovakia 89
21 Japan 59.6 21 New Zealand 59 21 Israel 89
22 Portugal 59.1 22 Spain 58 22 Slovenia 88
Hong Kong
23 Slovenia 58.4 23 SAR 58 23 Austria 88
United
24 South Korea 57.6 24 Kingdom 57 24 Ireland 88
Czech
25 Republic 56.7 25 Japan 57 25 Malaysia 87
26 Taiwan 56 26 Serbia 57 26 Chile 87
27 Malaysia 52.4 27 Greece 56 27 Serbia 85
Saudi
28 Arabia 52.3 28 Taiwan 53 28 Mexico 85
29 Italy 52.1 29 Chile 52 29 China 85
30 Poland 51.9 30 Ukraine 52 30 Canada 84
Russian Russian
31 Greece 50.5 31 Federation 50 31 Federation 84
32 Serbia 50 32 Slovenia 49 32 Thailand 84
Russian
33 Federation 49.5 33 Poland 49 33 Argentina 84
Czech
34 Hungary 49.2 34 Republic 46 34 Denmark 83
35 Chile 49 35 Italy 45 35 Spain 83
35 Ukraine 49 36 Hungary 44 36 South Korea 82
37 Slovakia 47.9 37 Romania 43 37 Switzerland 82
38 Bulgaria 47.7 38 Brazil 42 38 Germany 82
39 Romania 47.5 39 Mexico 42 39 Indonesia 81
40 Argentina 45.8 40 Argentina 41 40 Brazil 80
41 Brazil 45.6 41 India 41 41 Hungary 77
42 China 44.5 42 Croatia 38 42 Ukraine 75
43 Mexico 42.8 43 Iran 38 43 Italy 74
44 Croatia 39.2 44 Bulgaria 38 44 Iran 73
45 Turkey 38.9 45 Turkey 38 45 India 71
South
46 Africa 38.1 46 China 33 46 Croatia 70
47 Thailand 37.9 47 Slovakia 33 47 Turkey 70
South
48 Iran 37.2 48 Africa 26 48 Greece 68
Saudi
49 India 36.3 49 Thailand 22 49 Arabia 64
South
50 Indonesia 35.3 50 Indonesia 17 50 Africa 63
CONNECTIVITY OUTPUT
1 Switzerland 100 1 United States 100
United
2 Australia 97 2 Kingdom 63
3 Singapore 94 3 Canada 60
4 Sweden 93 4 Sweden 57
5 Austria 90 5 Finland 57
6 Hong Kong SAR 86 6 Switzerland 57
United
7 Kingdom 81 7 Australia 56
8 Netherland 77 8 Denmark 55
9 New Zealand 73 9 Germany 53
10 United States 72 10 Netherlands 52
11 Denmark 71 11 Norway 49
12 Belgium 69 12 Israel 49
13 Germany 66 13 New Zealand 49
14 Norway 65 14 Japan 48
Czech
15 Republic 64 15 France 47
16 Canada 63 16 Belgium 47
17 Spain 63 17 South Korea 46
18 Slovenia 61 18 Singapore 45
19 France 60 19 Ireland 45
20 Finland 60 20 Taiwan 44
21 Portugal 58 21 Austria 42
22 Ireland 55 22 Hong Kong SAR 41
23 Slovakia 54 23 Spain 40
24 South Africa 54 24 Slovenia 38
25 Indonesia 53 25 Italy 36
26 Italy 53 26 China 36
27 Ukraine 51 27 Portugal 35
28 Saudi Arabia 48 28 Greece 34
Czech
29 Hungary 48 29 Republic 33
30 Israel 47 30 Hungary 31
31 Romania 46 31 Poland 31
Russian
32 Serbia 45 32 Federation 27
33 Bulgaria 43 33 Slovakia 27
34 Chile 42 34 Brazil 25
Russian
35 Federation 41 35 Ukraine 25
36 Argentina 41 36 Argentina 24
37 Malaysia 40 37 Bulgaria 24
38 Greece 40 38 Croatia 23
39 Thailand 38 39 Chile 23
40 Brazil 38 40 Turkey 22
41 Mexico 38 41 Romania 22
42 Poland 30 42 Serbia 22
43 Japan 28 43 Iran 21
44 Turkey 27 44 South Africa 21
45 Croatia 25 45 Saudi Arabia 20
46 Taiwan 24 46 Malaysia 19
47 South Korea 22 47 Thailand 19
48 India 16 48 India 18
49 Iran 14 49 Mexico 17
50 China 12 50 Indonesia 11
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