BRICS & Emerging Economies University Rankings 2017: should emerging economies nurture world-class universities?

For many universities, rankings help to identify where improvement is needed for the national good, says THE rankings editor Phil Baty

November 30, 2016
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Browse the full BRICS & Emerging Economies University Rankings 2017 results


Should emerging economies care about nurturing world-class universities? While many countries will have a long list of more urgent priorities, it would be folly to neglect to develop research universities that can hold their own on the world stage and foolhardy to ignore global competition.

Halima Begum, who at the time was the British Council’s regional director for East Asia and a former senior education specialist at the World Bank and the UK’s Department for International Development, wrote in Times Higher Education in 2014 that “in many ways the importance of rankings in the developing world far outweighs their value to universities in more advanced economies”.

She explained: “Policymakers across Asia often place far more store in universities, and the crucial role they can play in driving national growth and competitiveness, than their counterparts in the developed world. Rankings are a yardstick to measure that progress, [they] help focus government attention on education policy.”


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This is why the THE BRICS & Emerging Economies University Rankings have become such a force in just three years. Building on THE’s vast and growing database on the world’s best universities, and based on the same performance indicators (with modification) as the World University Rankings, this is the largest BRICS & Emerging Economies University Rankings ever. They show the strength of universities in all countries defined by the FTSE as “advanced emerging”, “secondary emerging” or “frontier economies” – some 50 in all. And while 35 appeared in the top 200 last year, 41 feature in this year’s top 300.

As well as providing a resource for students and their families choosing where to study, this analysis will help university leaders to gauge their performance against global standards and governments to raise national competitiveness.

Speaking about Africa’s development, the academic Phillip L. Clay said in 2016: “When a nation can compete on the production and use of knowledge, there is a better chance for shaping its own fate.”

Phil Baty
Editor, Times Higher Education Rankings
Twitter: @Phil_Baty


Countries represented in BRICS & Emerging Economies Rankings 2017

Country     Number of institutions in top 300 Top institution Rank
China 52 Peking University 1
India 27 Indian Institute of Science 14
Brazil 25 University of São Paulo 13
Taiwan 25 National Taiwan University 10
Russian Federation 24 Lomonosov Moscow State University 3
Turkey 16 Koç University 15
Czech Republic 12 Charles University in Prague =39
Chile 10 Pontifical Catholic University of Chile 59
Poland 9 University of Warsaw =78
Thailand 9 Mahidol University 76
Egypt 8 American-University in Cairo =138
South Africa 8 University of Cape Town 4
Hungary 7 Central European University 16
Malaysia 7 Universiti Putra Malaysia =89
Pakistan 7 Quaid-i-azam University 128
Greece 6 University of Crete 34
Mexico 5 Monterrey Institute of Technology and Higher Education 36
Romania 4 Babeş-Bolyai University =132
Colombia 3 University of the Andes =68
Jordan 3 Jordan University of Science and Technology =119
Morocco 3 University of Marrakech Cadi Ayyad 201-250
    Mohammed V University of Rabat 201-250
United Arab Emirates 3 Khalifa University of Science, Technology and Research =49
Cyprus 2 University of Cyprus 29
Estonia 2 University of Tartu =24
Indonesia 2 Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB) =189
Latvia 2 University of Latvia 201-250
    Riga Technical University 201-250
Lithuania 2 Vilnius University =125
Slovakia 2 Comenius University in Bratislava 151
Slovenia 2 University of Maribor 105
Tunisia 2 University of Monastir 251-300
    University of Tunis El Manar 251-300
Bulgaria 1 Sofia University 201-250
Croatia 1 University of Zagreb =196
Ghana 1 University of Ghana =125
Kenya 1 University of Nairobi 201-250
Nigeria 1 University of Ibadan 201-250
Northern Cyprus 1 Eastern Mediterranean University =173
Oman 1 Sultan Qaboos University 127
Philippines 1 University of the Philippines 201-250
Qatar 1 Qatar University 75
Serbia 1 University of Belgrade =196
Sri Lanka 1 University of Colombo 251-300

POSTSCRIPT:

Print headline: The distance travelled and the distance to go

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