Thursday 25th April 2024
Education has become an extremely competitive sector in the present scenario. This is resultant of the employment industry that needs employees to be highly-skilled for challenging job roles.
Being cross-skilled gives an employee and employer an edge over other competitors in the industry.
Times Higher Education (THE) has collected data on close to 1,400 universities from 92 countries to help universities improve their potential and impart quality education.
Based on the data collected from dedicated fulltime data specialists across the globe, THE published the following Top 10 World University Rankings for 2020.
1) University of Oxford – UK
2) California Institute of Technology – US
3) University of Cambridge – UK
4) Stanford University – US
5) Massachusetts Institute of Technology – US
6) Princeton University – US
7) Harvard University – US
8) Yale University – US
9) University of Chicago – US
10) Imperial College of London – UK
According to THE World University Rankings 2020, The University of Oxford has retained its spot at World No.1. However, a number of UK universities have lost their rankings in the top 10 over the years.
An observation of the above rankings shows that the US has a strong presence in the education sector. However, its university positions in the Top 200 have dropped from 63 in 2016 to 60 this year.
Likewise, the number of Top UK universities has also seen a decline from 34 three years ago to 28 this year.
Factors such as the popularity of STEM subjects, the rise of Asian universities and the shifting generations of academics and scholars have challenged these universities in terms of reputation, causing them to fall by a position or two on the rankings chart in the last few years.
While UK and US universities have witnessed decline, educational institutions in Australia, China and Germany have shown remarkable growth.
Germany has strengthened its presence in the Top 200 by increasing the number of top universities from three in 2016 to 23 in 2020. This is followed by China with an increase from five to seven universities and Australia three to 11 universities.
China is now home to two of the leading Asian universities for the first time. While Tsinghua University stands at No.1, Peking University is at No.2.
Australia universities’ teaching and research reputation has earned it a spot in the Top 200 ranking, the same reason why it was featured for the first time in the World Reputation Rankings in July 2019.
A number of Asian universities have gained top positions in the 2020 World University rankings. THE’s recent analysis has proved that young academics hold Asian universities in high regard, compared to their older peers.
In the South East Asian region, India is the leading country with its universities. The Indian Institute of Science is at the topmost position in the South Asian ranking. Indian universities are gaining popularity due to long-term investments and commitment to qualitative education, research and innovation.
| Rank in 2020 | University Name | Country |
| 301–350 | Indian Institute of Science | India |
| 401–500 | Quaid-i-azam University | Pakistan |
| 401–500 | University of Peradeniya | Sri Lanka |
| 1001+ | University of Dhaka | Bangladesh |
| 1001+ | Tribhuvan University | Nepal |
Nepal’s Tribhuvan University (TU) has also entered the 2020 World University rankings.
Speaking about this milestone TU Vice Chancellor Tirtha Raj Khaniya said, “The criteria for selection are so tough that many universities don’t even get through the selection process. We met the criteria. This is an achievement for us.”
Khaniya says that they had a wrong outlook out of TU. “We had been underestimating our teaching methods and overall results. With this upgraded ranking, we are excited that research conducted by our scholars will also gain international recognition.”
TU was ranked on 13 performance indicators under five major groups Teaching Weightage, Research Weightage, Industrial Outcome, International Outlook and Citation Influence.
According to TU Planning Directorate Executive Director Hridhish Kumar Pokhrel, TU scored 30 percent in teaching weightage, research weightage and citation influence, 5.7 in international outlook and 2.5 industrial outcome.
“It seems we can upgrade our ranking by forging collaboration with foreign universities and attracting international students,” added Pokhrel.
Earlier, Tribhuvan University was ranked 4,241 in 2015 and 3,895 in 2017 by Webometrics – ranking system for world universities that takes into consideration the volume of web content and the visibility and impact of these web publications.
However, the University has witnessed a decline enrollments over the last four years.
From a total of 604,437 students in 2014, the university recorded a total of 367,427 in 2018. Additionally, the university has to also improve in terms of equipment, infrastructure and human capacity.
Most universities who hold top rankings engage ranking analysis experts in their strategic business management teams and this has helped them in establishing dominance in their sector.
Moreover, such universities are producing more research publications each year in various fields which are paving for more international collaborations, building more infrastructure and raising more funds from an increasing number of sources.
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