BRICS and Emerging Economies University Rankings 2016 More About University Rankings

China leads in the BRICS & Emerging Economies Rankings 2016

Investment in research and development pays off, says World University Rankings reporter Ellie Bothwell

Developing nations that want to achieve the same level of higher education success as China have a tough journey ahead of them.

China’s research and development spending has increased by an average of 23 per cent a year over the past decade, according to Nature Index, with the goal of reaching 2.5 per cent of its gross domestic product by 2020, up from 1 per cent in 2000.

The People’s Republic’s 15-year science and technology plan, announced in 2006, includes the aim for China to become one of the world’s top five countries for the number of invention patents and most-cited scientific papers.

And earlier this year the country announced a new scheme, dubbed World Class 2.0, with the aim of establishing six of its universities in the leading group of global institutions by 2020, and for some of those to reach top 15 status by 2030. The initiative will include creating hubs for international collaboration with overseas universities and boosting the research base of China’s top nine universities.

So it is not surprising that China dominates this year’s Times Higher Education BRICS & Emerging Economies Rankings.

The country claims half the top 10 places, which include Beijing neighbours Peking and Tsinghua universities in first and second place, and has 39 universities in the extended top 200 table, 27 of which sit within the first half.

Although THE’s rankings methodology remains largely unchanged, improvements made to the underlying data used to create the tables mean that it is impossible to make direct year-on-year comparisons of the results. Nonetheless, clear insights can be drawn.

While China still stands head and shoulders above the other large emerging BRICS economies, Brazil, Russia and India are all gaining in strength.

India is the only BRICS nation without an institution in the top 10, but it boasts the highest number of universities in the group apart from China and Taiwan. The Indian Institute of Science leads the country’s 16 institutions in 16th place.

Russia has 15 institutions in the top 200, including seven in the top 50, led by Lomonosov Moscow State University in third place.

It is followed by Brazil, which claims 14 universities, with its number one, the University of São Paulo, sitting in ninth place.

South Africa cannot claim to have the same strength in depth as the other developing nations, with six universities in total, but four of its institutions are in the top 50. The University of Cape Town is fourth, the University of the Witwatersrand sixth and Stellenbosch University 11th.

View the full universities list below.

BRICS & Emerging Economies Rankings 2016

Rank      

Summary for Number of University in Top 100 by Country:

1. China - 27
2. Taiwan - 11
3. Russia - 11
4. India - 9
5. Turkey - 7
6. South Africa - 5
7. Greece - 5
8. Czech Republic - 5
   
9. Brazil - 4
10. Chile - 3
11. Thailand - 2
12. Estonia - 2
13. Mexico - 2
14. Hungary - 1
15. United Arab Emirates - 1
16. Malaysia - 1
17. Qatar - 1
18. Cyprus -1
19. Poland - 1
20. Romania - 1

    ---

Source - Times Higher Education