According to universityworldnews.com, cited by Agerpres, an unprecedented seven Chinese universities are among the top 100 universities in the world in the 2023 Times Higher Education World Rankings, up from six last year and just two five years ago.

Tsinghua University is the best-performing Chinese institution (ranked 16th) in the Times Higher Education 2023 ranking published last week (Wednesday).

Asia is the most represented continent, with 669 universities out of a total of 1,799.

Among Asian countries, Japan leads with 117 universities included in this ranking, followed by China (95) and India (75).

Germany is also achieving unprecedented success, with nine universities in the top 100 and 22 universities in the top 200.

However, the largest result at the continent level was recorded by Africa – an increase of 36.6%, from 71 to 97 institutions present in the Times Higher Education 2023 ranking.

Five African countries appear in this ranking for the first time: Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Zambia and Zimbabwe. The best higher education institution in Africa is the University of Cape Town, ranked 160.

The Latin American and Caribbean region registers a record 140 universities from 12 countries included in the ranking. Brazil, Mexico and Colombia have a large number of higher education institutions in this ranking, with five new universities in Mexico and Colombia and four universities in Brazil.

Phil Bathy, a spokesman for Times Higher Education, said the data illustrated “a real shift in the balance of power in the global knowledge economy away from the traditionally dominant Western world”.

“I think this change — global growth — is good news for the world. A rising tide is lifting all boats: access to high-quality education is opening up around the world and helping to reduce the brain drain from developing countries,” he said.

It topped the Times Higher Education 2023 ranking, which is not surprising: the University of Oxford in Great Britain is ranked first for the seventh time in a row. The next nine positions in the top ten, in order: Harvard University (US), Cambridge University (UK), Stanford University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Caltech, Princeton University, University of California, Berkeley and Yale University (all – USA) and Imperial College of London (Great Britain).

Although the US continues to dominate with 177 universities present in the overall ranking, of which seven are in the world’s top 10 (one less than the previous year) and with 12 in the top 20 positions, its dominance is under threat from Asia , as the number of US universities represented in the top 100 continues to decline from 43 in 2018 to 34 this year.

“While the US and UK remain dominant in terms of representation at the top of the rankings, their relative strength is waning,” said Phil Baty.

Australia has ten universities in the top 200, with the University of Melbourne the best-performing higher education institution in the country, ranked 34th (down one place from last year).

In Europe, outside the UK, Switzerland’s ETH Zurich is the highest ranked institution (11th, instead of 15th).

In Romania

• According to www.timeshighereducation.com, the best-ranked higher education institution in Romania is the Academy of Economic Studies in Bucharest, which is in the 501-600 segment.
• The next best ranking is the Iuliu Hatsieganu University of Medicine and Pharmacy from Cluj-Napoca, in the 801-1000 segment.
• Babes Bolyai University from Cluj-Napoca and Stefan cel Mare University from Suceava are located in the 1001-1200 segment.
• The following Romanian educational institutions in this ranking in the 1001-1200 segment are: University of Bucharest, Transylvania University of Brasov and University of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary Medicine in Cluj-Napoca. Other Romanian universities represented in the Times Higher Education 2023 world ranking are in the 1501+ segment.

Approximately 170 universities are ranked for the first time: 74 from Asia, 53 from Europe, 25 from Africa, 17 from South America and six from North America. At the national level, 13 universities from China, 9 from Poland, eight from Iran, eight from Pakistan and seven from Turkey entered the ranking for the first time this year.

Among these 170 higher education institutions, Humanitas University in Italy recorded the best performance, entering the 201-250 segment.

According to Baty, the global ranking is much more inclusive, covering 104 countries and regions this year, compared to just 70 in 2016.

“We are also seeing a greater global diversity of creativity and innovation, as well as more equitable international cooperation. This should be great news for the sector, as universities are leading the way in the new ideas and breakthroughs needed to tackle some of our biggest shared challenges. worldwide, such as climate change and future pandemics,” he said.

The Times Higher Education World University Rankings is based on an analysis of 15.5 million published scientific articles and 121 million citations, as well as more than 40,000 responses to an annual academic reputation survey and hundreds of thousands of additional data covering, in addition to research, teaching, and and international perspective and knowledge transfer.

Thus, educational institutions are evaluated on the basis of 13 separate performance indicators from five areas: teaching, research, citations, international perspective and industrial impact through knowledge transfer, notes universityworldnews.com and www.timeshighereducation.com, cited by Agerpres.