UNDER STRICT EMBARGO UNTIL 21.00 BST ON WEDNESDAY 30TH SEPTEMBER 2015
SEVEN UNIVERSITIES IN NEW ZEALAND MAKE THE NEWLY EXPANDED WORLD UNIVERSITY RANKINGS TOP 800
TIMES HIGHER EDUCATION PUBLISHES EXPANDED WORLD UNIVERSITY RANKINGS 2015-16
London, 30th September 2015: The Times Higher Education has published the 12th edition of its World University Rankings. There are seven New Zealand
institutions in the newly expanded World University Rankings top 800 ranking, with the University of Auckland its top
performer in the top 200 (joint 172nd).
RANK 2015–16Institution=172University of Auckland201-250University of Otago351-400Victoria University of Wellington401-500University of Canterbury401-500University of Waikato501-600Massey University601-800Auckland University of Technology
THE World University Rankings are partly based on publication and citation data from Elsevier’s Scopus, the world’s
largest abstract and citation database of peer-reviewed literature, and include analytics from SciVal, Elsevier’s tool
to calculate comparative research metrics. The ranking features universities in 70 countries, with 29 new countries
included this year. Countries entering this year include Indonesia, Malaysia, Ghana, Nigeria, Bangladesh, Latvia, Oman,
Qatar and the Ukraine.
Phil Baty, the editor of the Times Higher Education World University Rankings said:
“It is good news for New Zealand to have once again made this prestigious list of the world’s top universities. It is
now among one of 70 countries in the elite four per cent of universities in the world - something it can be very proud
of achieving again this year.”
Elsewhere, Australia has 31 universities represented in the newly expanded World University Rankings top 800, with eight
in the top 200 and a further 14 ranked between 201 and 400.
In Asia, the National University of Singapore holds Asia’s number one spot (in 26th place) while China’s two leading
universities (Peking and Tsinghua) are firmly established in the world’s elite top 50 group at 42nd and joint 47th
respectively. Japan has two institutions in the top 200, University of Tokyo (43rd) and Kyoto University (joint 88th),
while South Korea has four institutions in the top 200: Seoul National University (85th), Pohang University of Science
and Technology (116th), the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (148th) and Sungkyunkwan University
(153rd). Hong Kong has three institutions in the top 200: the University of Hong Kong (joint 44th), the Hong Kong
University of Science and Technology (59th) and the Chinese University of Hong Kong (joint 138th). India has 17
institutions in the top 800 list, with two in the top 400 list, which are the Indian Institute of Science in the 251-300
group and the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay (351-400).
Phil Baty continued:
“It is a mixed picture for Asia. China’s two leading universities, Peking and Tsinghua, are firmly established within
the world’s elite top 50 group. Singapore is another strong performer - it now boasts Asia’s number one university, the
National University of Singapore in 26th place, and its compatriot, Nanyang Technological University, sits in its
highest ever place, 55th.
“But tough times for Japan and disappointment for South Korea mean that leading Asian nations’ grip on the higher ranks
of the THE World University Rankings is loose. Many leading institutions, particularly in East Asia, have been focussing
heavily on attaining world class status, backed with funding and powerful political will. But this rankings demonstrates
how difficult a task this is, as universities right across the world continue to improve.”
THE World University Rankings feature universities in 70 countries, with 29 new countries included this year. Countries
entering this year include Indonesia, Malaysia, Ghana, Nigeria, Bangladesh, Latvia, Oman, Qatar and the Ukraine. While the US remains the world leader when it comes to elite universities, its dominance has been eroded this year. It
has six of the top ten universities – down from seven last year – and 39 of the top 100 – down from 45 last year.
Phil Baty continued:
“The Times Higher Education World University Rankings, now in their 12th year, apply rigorous standards, using tough global benchmarks across all
of a global research university’s key missions – teaching, research, knowledge transfer and international outlook. The
results are trusted by students and their families and by academics, university leaders and governments. The top 800
list represents just 4 per cent of the world’s higher education institutions, so we congratulate all institutions who
have made this year’s list.
“This year’s expanded list is testament to just how competitive global higher education has become – our top 800
universities come from 70 different countries, and the traditional dominance of the US is eroding. Make no mistake –
many countries aspire to have world class universities competing with the very best in the world, and no one at the top
can afford to rest on their laurels. You have to run very fast just to stand still and there are many rising stars from
a wide range of nations seeking to gain the upper hand in the 21stcentury knowledge economy.”
THE TIMES HIGHER EDUCATION WORLD UNIVERSITY RANKINGS 2015-16 – FULL TOP 200
Copyright Times Higher Education 2015
If any of this table is reproduced, you must credit: Times Higher Education and link to the full results and analysis at www.thewur.com
Rank 2015-16InstitutionCountry1California Institute of TechnologyUS2University of OxfordUK3Stanford UniversityUS4University of CambridgeUK5Massachusetts Institute of TechnologyUS6Harvard UniversityUS7Princeton UniversityUS8Imperial College LondonUK9ETH Zürich – Swiss Federal Institute of Technology ZurichSwitzerland10University of ChicagoUS11Johns Hopkins UniversityUS12Yale UniversityUS13University of California, BerkeleyUS14University College LondonUK15Columbia UniversityUS16University of California, Los AngelesUS17University of PennsylvaniaUS18Cornell UniversityUS19University of TorontoCanada20Duke UniversityUS21University of MichiganUS22Carnegie Mellon UniversityUS23London School of Economics and Political ScienceUK24University of EdinburghUK25Northwestern UniversityUS26National University of SingaporeSingapore27King’s College LondonUK28Karolinska InstituteSweden29LMU MunichGermany30New York UniversityUS31École Polytechnique Fédérale de LausanneSwitzerland32University of WashingtonUS33University of MelbourneAustralia34University of British ColumbiaCanada35KU LeuvenBelgium36University of Illinois at Urbana-ChampaignUS37Heidelberg UniversityGermany38McGill UniversityCanada39University of California, San DiegoUS39University of California, Santa BarbaraUS41Georgia Institute of TechnologyUS42Peking UniversityChina43University of TokyoJapan44University of California, DavisUS44University of Hong KongHong Kong46University of Texas at AustinUS47Tsinghua UniversityChina47Wageningen University and Research CenterNetherlands49Humboldt University of BerlinGermany50University of Wisconsin-MadisonUS51Brown UniversityUS52Australian National UniversityAustralia53Technical University of MunichGermany54École Normale SupérieureFrance55Nanyang Technological UniversitySingapore56University of ManchesterUK56University of SydneyAustralia58University of AmsterdamNetherlands59Hong Kong University of Science and TechnologyHong Kong60University of QueenslandAustralia60Washington University in St LouisUS62Utrecht UniversityNetherlands63University of North Carolina at Chapel HillUS64Boston UniversityUS65Delft University of TechnologyNetherlands65University of MinnesotaUS67Leiden UniversityNetherlands68University of Southern CaliforniaUS69University of BristolUK70Durham UniversityUK71Erasmus University RotterdamNetherlands72Free University of BerlinGermany73Monash UniversityAustralia74University of GroningenNetherlands75Pennsylvania State UniversityUS76University of GlasgowUK76University of HelsinkiFinland78University of TübingenGermany79University of PittsburghUS80University of WarwickUK81Uppsala UniversitySweden82University of CopenhagenDenmark82University of New South WalesAustralia84University of FreiburgGermany85Seoul National UniversityKorea, Republic of86University of St AndrewsUK87Vanderbilt UniversityUS88Kyoto UniversityJapan88Maastricht UniversityNetherlands90Emory UniversityUS90Lund UniversitySweden90Ohio State UniversityUS93University of ExeterUK94University of BonnGermany94Georgetown UniversityUS94McMaster UniversityCanada97University of SheffieldUK98Queen Mary University of LondonUK99University of GöttingenGermany99Michigan State UniversityUS101University of BaselSwitzerland101École PolytechniqueFrance101Rice UniversityUS104Dartmouth CollegeUS104University of ZurichSwitzerland106University of California, IrvineUS106University of MannheimGermany108University of Notre DameUS109University of Western AustraliaAustralia110RWTH Aachen UniversityGermany110University of SouthamptonUK112Scuola Normale Superiore di PisaItaly113University of MontrealCanada113Pierre and Marie Curie UniversityFrance113Purdue UniversityUS116Pohang University of Science and TechnologyKorea, Republic of117University of Maryland, College ParkUS118Ghent UniversityBelgium119University of BirminghamUK120University of BernSwitzerland120University of Cape TownSouth Africa120University of FloridaUS123University of Erlangen-NurembergGermany123Rutgers, the State University of New JerseyUS125University of MünsterGermany125Radboud University NijmegenNetherlands127University of Colorado BoulderUS127Tufts UniversityUS129Royal Holloway, University of LondonUK130Lancaster UniversityUK131University of GenevaSwitzerland131University of YorkUK133Case Western Reserve UniversityUS133University of LeedsUK135University of OsloNorway136Stockholm UniversitySweden137University of AlbertaCanada138Chinese University of Hong KongHong Kong138Karlsruhe Institute of TechnologyGermany140University of SussexUK141University of MassachusettsUS142University of ViennaAustria143University of NottinghamUK144University of California, Santa CruzUS144University of LausanneSwitzerland146Autonomous University of BarcelonaSpain147University of VirginiaUS148Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST)Korea, Republic of149Aarhus UniversityDenmark149University of AdelaideAustralia149University of East AngliaUK149University of TwenteNetherlands153Sungkyunkwan University (SKKU)Korea, Republic of154VU University AmsterdamNetherlands155KTH Royal Institute of TechnologySweden156University of CologneGermany157University of LiverpoolUK158Dresden University of TechnologyGermany158University of RochesterUS160Trinity College DublinIreland161Lomonosov Moscow State UniversityRussian Federation161University of MiamiUS163University of ArizonaUS164Pompeu Fabra UniversitySpain164University of ReadingUK164Yeshiva UniversityUS167University of California, RiversideUS167University of LeicesterUK167National Taiwan UniversityTaiwan167Technical University of DenmarkDenmark167Université Catholique de LouvainBelgium172University of AberdeenUK172University of AucklandNew Zealand174University of BarcelonaSpain175University of KonstanzGermany176Eindhoven University of TechnologyNetherlands176University College DublinIreland178Hebrew University of JerusalemIsrael179University of WaterlooCanada180University of GothenburgSweden180Scuola Superiore Sant’AnnaItaly182University of BergenNorway182Cardiff UniversityUK182University of UtahUS185Brandeis UniversityUS185University of DundeeUK185University of WürzburgGermany188Paris-Sud UniversityFrance189Arizona State UniversityUS190University of AntwerpBelgium190Boston CollegeUS192Ulm UniversityGermany193University of LuxembourgLuxembourg193Texas A UniversityUS195Charité - Universitätsmedizin BerlinGermany196Newcastle UniversityUK196St George’s, University of LondonUK198University of TrentoItaly199Paris Diderot University – Paris 7France200Queen’s University BelfastUK
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Methodology key facts
The Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2015-16 draw upon:
800 universities ranked, up from 400 from last year, with 70 countries included (29 more than in 2014)
Thirteen performance indicators make these the ONLY world rankings to examine ALL the core missions of the modern
global university – research, teaching, knowledge transfer and international activity
The world’s largest invitation-only academic reputation survey (including responses from more than 10,000 senior
academics in 2014-15)
Research excellence assessed through the examination of more than 11 million research papers (up from six million last
year) with 51 million citations (up from 50 million last year)
Arts, humanities and social sciences placed on an equal footing with science
The indicators are:
Industry income – innovation
1. Research income from industry/academic staff
Teaching – the learning environment
2. Reputation survey – teaching
3. Staff-to-student ratio
4. PhDs/undergraduate degrees awarded
5. PhDs awarded/academic staff
6. Institutional income/academic staff
Citations – research influence
7. Citation impact (normalised average citations per paper)
Research – volume, income and reputation
8. Reputation survey – research
9. Research income/academic staff
10. Scholarly papers/academic staff and research staff
International outlook – staff, students and research
11. International students/total students
12. International academic staff/total academic staff
13. Scholarly papers with one or more international co-authors/total scholarly papers
Terminology and intellectual property
The full title of the tables is “Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2015-16”
This edition of the Times Higher Education World University Rankings marks the first time that core institutional and reputational information has been gathered
in-house by THE’s new dedicated team of data experts. This has allowed THE to publish data on more institutions than ever before. Bringing the data in-house means thatTHE can develop more sophisticated analyses: for example, tables that focus on particular regions with bespoke metrics
This is supplemented by extended research publication data drawn from Elsevier’s Scopus database, the world’s largest
abstract and citation database of peer-reviewed academic literature
This updated approach enables THE to analyse a deeper range of research activity from a wider range of institutions than ever before, including those
institutions from emerging economies that account for a growing proportion of the world’s research output
There are caveats. While the tried, trusted and comprehensive combination of 13 performance indicators remains in
place, with some carefully calibrated weightings, naturally there is a degree of volatility compared with last year
because of the improvements that have been made. This has led to significant changes in some institutions’ positions
that cannot be attributed solely to performance. This is why last year’s results have not been shown alongside this
year’s results, as direct comparisons cannot be made
Research publication data are supplied by Elsevier from its Scopus database. http://www.elsevier.com/solutions/scopus
Any publication of the “Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2015-16” tables (in full or part) should include full attribution to “Times Higher Educationwith data supplied by Elsevier”
YOU MUST include the following link when publishing the “Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2015-16” tables (in full or in part): http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/world-university-rankings/
About Times Higher Education magazine
Times Higher Education is the world’s most authoritative source of information about higher education. Designed specifically for professional
people working in higher education and research, THE was founded in 1971 and has been online since 1995. It is published by TES Global.
About Elsevier
Elsevier is a world-leading provider of information solutions that enhance the performance of science, health, and technology
professionals, empowering them to make better decisions, deliver better care, and sometimes make groundbreaking
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— among them ScienceDirect, Scopus, Elsevier Research Intelligence and ClinicalKey— and publishes over 2,500 journals, including The Lancet and Cell, and more than 33,000 book titles, including a number of iconic reference works. Elsevier is part of RELX Group plc, a world-leading provider of information solutions for professional customers across industries. www.elsevier.com
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