The Center for World University Rankings (CWUR) released its 2021-2022 World University Rankings on Monday (April 26). Harvard University topped the list for the tenth consecutive year. China’s Tsinghua University and Peking University are ranked in the top 60, up from the previous year.
Harvard University in the United States remains at the top of this year’s rankings, with MIT and Stanford University in second and third place. As has been the case over the past decade, the top ten is made up of eight U.S. colleges and universities, and is the largest percentage of the 2,000 colleges and universities on the list, with a total of 347 U.S. colleges and universities on the list this year.
China has 277 finalists this year (including Hong Kong and Macau), with Tsinghua ranking 58th and Peking University 59th, both ranking higher than the previous year.
According to Forbes, although China’s highest-ranked Tsinghua University’s ranking is average, 93% of the Chinese colleges and universities on the list are ranked higher than before, and 10 colleges and universities are the latest to make it into the list; while the number of U.S. colleges and universities on the list is 10 less than last year, and only 69 have improved their rankings, and 256 have seen a decline in their rankings.
The report quoted CWUR President Nadim Mahassen as saying that the overall rise in China’s university rankings is mainly due to the construction of world-class universities and first-class disciplines that China began implementing in 2015. The goal of this education strategy, known as “Double First Class,” is to make China a higher education powerhouse by the middle of the 21st century by bringing the number and strength of its top universities and disciplines to the top of the world.
Maharson told Forbes that U.S. colleges and universities face increasing global competition for faculty, especially from well-funded Chinese universities. U.S. colleges and universities have been able to attract the most talented academic talent around the world for years, he said, “but the tide may be turning,” and without sustained investment and the ability to retain top academic talent, U.S. colleges and universities show an overall downward trend that may be difficult to stem.
But CWUR’s rankings show that despite improvements in the overall rankings of Chinese universities, the top 50 worldwide are almost exclusively from the United States and European countries. The top 10 universities in CWUR’s global ranking this year have also changed little from the past, in order: Harvard University, MIT, Stanford University, Cambridge University, Oxford University, Princeton University, Columbia University, University of Chicago, University of Pennsylvania, and Yale University.
The highest ranked university in Asia is the University of Tokyo in Japan, which is ranked 13th in the world. Two other Asian universities ranked in the global top 50 are Kyoto University in Japan at No. 28 and Seoul National University in South Korea at No. 31.
CWUR, which began compiling its global university rankings in 2012 and is based in the United Arab Emirates, said its rankings are the only global academic rankings of universities in the world that do not rely on questionnaires and data submitted by schools.
CWUR evaluated 19,788 universities worldwide this year and ranked the top 2,000 schools. The rankings are based on four main indicators: quality of education, at 25 percent; alumni employment, at 25 percent; quality of faculty and staff, at 10 percent; and research performance, at 40 percent.
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