Today’s post will be a bit out of the ordinary because I will not be discussing science or engineering so much as the places where our scientists and engineers receive their education. I’m talking about the Colleges and Universities of the world. I was prompted to write this post by the release of the annual Times Higher Education survey of the world’s best Colleges and Universities.
Now which University was chosen as the best, which schools made into the top 10, or which country had the most universities in the top 100 is really nothing more than a competitive exercise of no actual importance. What is important is whether or not new institutes of higher learning are being founded, and whether existing universities are getting better. Still it’s worth taking a quick look at some of the annual survey’s results in order to get an idea of what is going on in the world of higher education.
At the very top of the Times Higher Education list for the fifth straight year is Oxford University in the United Kingdom. Britain also has another spot in the top ten, Cambridge University coming in at number six. All of the other spots in the top ten belong to Universities in the United States from Stanford University at number two to the University of Chicago at number ten. Indeed the first non US non UK University is ETH Zurich in Switzerland coming in at number 14 with the University of Toronto in Canada ranking at #18, and Tsinghua University in China at #20, also appearing in the top 20.
Now I’m not trying to brag, and neither should these results be a great surprise. The US and UK have pretty much dominated the world of higher education since the end of World War 2 when most of the world’s other Universities lay in ruin.
During the years when the USSR was pushing education as the way to demonstrate the superiority of Communism several Russian Universities where recognized as among the best schools in the world. However the current Russian government appears to prefer to keep its population ignorant and gullible so the quality of Russian education has declined noticeably.
Instead it’s now China whose institutes of higher learning are gaining the most ground. In addition to Tsinghua University, Peking University received a high ranking of 23 making China the only country other than the US and UK to place two universities in the top 25. China in fact succeeded in doubling its number of schools in the top 100 from three last year to six this year.
Most of these Chinese Universities are in fact relatively new, babies when compared to Oxford or Cambridge. It’s a sign of China’s growing middle class who want a good education for their children, and are willing to pay for it. It’s also a sign that the Chinese government recognizes that a larger, better educated middle class will actually make China a stronger more powerful nation.
Other Asian nations are also working hard to improve the quality of the education they provide to their people. Sixteen Asian universities placed within the top 100, the most since the Times Higher Education list began.
Of course the improvement in higher education in Asia doesn’t have to mean that education is the west is slipping. In the years to come the world is going to need all of its college and university graduates if we’re going to overcome the tremendous challenges facing our planet.
By the way, my old Alma Matter Drexel University came in at 351. Not great, but not bad considering that’s 351st in the entire world.