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The top universities in France
0586 days
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The University of Paris 06 is the best university in France according to the Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU). The ARWU is published by the Institute of Higher Education at the Shanghai Jiao Tong University and several indicators of academic or research performance are used to establish the ranking, these include highly cited researchers, articles indexed in major citation indices and staff winning Nobel Prizes.
The Top-5 universities in France
There are twenty-three French universities in the Word’s Top-500 universities (2008). The Top-5 universities in France are: 1. University of Paris 6 (ranked 42nd in the world); 2. University of Paris 11 (ranked 49th); 3. Ecole Normale Supérieure Paris (73rd); 4. University of Paris 7 (101-151) and University of Strasbourg(101-151).The University of Paris 6 has been the best university in France since 2003, when the ARWU was first published.
French Universities
Universities in France are predominantly public institutions. Interestingly, the best students attend the ‘Grandes Ecoles’ ['Grand Schools'] (a higher education establishment outside the mainstream framework of the public universities system). Whilst the universities are open to all students who finish their high school education (with a ‘Baccalauréat’), the ‘Grandes Ecoles’ require an additional entrance exam which is highly competitive.
In comparison to French universities, the ‘Grandes Ecoles’ are relatively small institutions. For example, the University of Paris 6 (ranked 42rd in the world) has 30,000 students whilst the Ecole Normale Supérieure Paris (ranked 73rd in the world) only has 2,000 students.
Compared to other OECD countries, France has an average density of top universities (0.4 universities per 1 million inhabitants in France compared to 0.4 for OECD countries as a whole. It is striking to note that 9 out of the 23 universities (39%) that appear in the ARWU are located in Paris.
The University of Paris
The historic University of Paris was founded in the mid 12th century, In 1970 it was reorganized as 13 autonomous universities (University of Paris I–XIII). The university is often referred to as the Sorbonne or La Sorbonne. The universities are now essentially independent of each other. Despite this link, and the historical ties, there is no University of Paris system that binds the universities at an academic level.
The University of Paris 6
The University of Paris 6 or the Pierre and Marie Curie University (UPMC) is a public university that was established in 1971. It is a large university with 30,000 students: 22,000 undergraduates and 8,000 graduates. International students represent 14% of the student population.
The University of Paris 6 was the principal heir to the Faculty of Sciences of the University of Paris and is now the largest scientific and medical complex in France. The main campus (Jussieu Campus) is located in the Latin Quarter of the 5th arrondissement in Paris, with most facilities on a campus of 500 000m².
One in Three American Universities Located in Just Five States- Top-500 Universities in the World
0596 days
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An assessment of the World’s Top-500 universities [1] carried out by AllAboutUni.com reveals that one in three American universities are located in just five States: New York, California, Texas, Massachusetts and Pennsylvania. AllAboutUni.com is an independent, global and inter-active website where visitors can obtain information about universities (global rankings, student reviews, university news and campus pictures).
Looking at the World’s Top-500 universities, roughly 40% are located in Europe (n=210), 40% in the Americas (n=190) and 20% in the Asian/Pacific (n=100) area (click here). In the Americas, the majority of universities are located in the US (159, 75%), with 21 in Canada, 6 in Brazil, 2 in Chile and 1 in Argentina and 1 in Mexico. At the top of the list, the US clearly dominates with 8 of the World’s Top-10 universities located in the US (click here).
An analysis of the States where the US universities are located, indicates that 36% (n=57) – more than one in three – are located in just five States: New York (15), California (13), Texas (13), Massachusetts (9) and Pennsylvania (7). This is not evenly distributed, with California having a higher representation at the top of the list: in the World’s Top-25 universities, the distribution is California (6), New York (2), Massachusetts (2), and Pennsylvania (1) and Texas (0). It is striking to note that 11 (44%) of the World’s Top-25 universities in 2008 are located in these five States, indicating there is also a global clustering of the World’s Top universities.
Looking at the World’s Top-10 universities, three of the States represent 60% of these universities: California (Stanford University (ranked 2nd), University of California – Berkeley (3rd) and the California Institute of Technology (6th), Massachusetts (Harvard University (1st) and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (5th)) and New York (Columbia University (7th)). All things equal, it would be expected that the highest number of universities in the US would be located in the most populated States. Indeed, three of the five States are the most populated in the US: California (ranked 1st with 36.6 million inhabitants), Texas (2nd with 23.9 million) and NewYork (3rd with 19.3 million). However, other factors play an important role as smaller States like Pennsylvania (6th with 12.4 million) and Massachusetts (14th with 6.4 million inhabitants) also contribute significantly to the list of World’s Top-500 universities.
Finally, it is interesting to note that a US university does not need to be ‘old’ to be ranked highly in the World’s Top-500 rankings. In the US, the oldest university is Harvard University which was established in 1636. However, the performance of universities in California and Texas, which are the home to ‘young’ universities, clearly indicates that a university does not have to be ‘old’ to obtain a high ranking. For example, Stanford University, located in California and ranked second in the world, was established in 1891 and the University of Texas – Austin, located in Texas and ranked 35th in the world, was established in 1883. In conclusion, the analysis indicates that the top universities in the US are not evenly distributed across the country and are clustered in certain States. States with a clear clustering of the World’s Top-500 universities are New York, California, Texas, Massachusetts and Pennsylvania.
Background note: [1] The analysis is based on a ranking of the World’s Top-500 Universities produced by the Institute of Higher Education at the Shanghai Jiao Tong University (click here). Several indicators of academic or research performance are used to establish the ranking, these include staff winning Nobel Prizes, highly cited researchers and articles indexed in major citation indices. The rankings have been published since 2003, with the 2008 ranking published on 15 August 2008.
The Top-10 Universities in the United Kingdom
0598 days
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An assessment carried out by AllAboutUni.com found that Scotland has the highest density of the World’s Top-500 universities in the United Kingdom. AllAboutUni.com is an independent, global and interactive website where visitors can obtain information about universities (global rankings, student reviews, university news and campus pictures).
The Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU) is produced by the Institute of Higher Education at the Shanghai Jiao Tong University . Several indicators of academic or research performance are used to establish the ranking, these include highly cited researchers, articles indexed in major citation indices and staff winning Nobel Prizes.
The World’s Top-500 universities (2008) are mainly located in Europe (n=210; 40%), the Americas (n=190; 40%) and the Asian/Pacific region (n=100; 20%). There are 42 (8%) universities located in the United Kingdom (UK), representing 20% of the universities in Europe.
The top-10 universities in the UK are: University of Cambridge (ranked 4th in the world), the University of Oxford (10th), University College London (22nd), Imperial College London (27th), The University of Manchester (40th), University of Edinburgh (55th), University of Bristol (61st), University of Sheffield (77th), King’s College London (81st) and University of Nottingham (82nd).
The UK has the highest number of universities in the World’s Top-500 universities (42) compared to the other European countries: Germany (40), France (23), Italy (22), the Netherlands (12), Sweden (11) and Spain (9). In the ranking of Europe’s Top-10 universities, five are located in the UK and in the Top-25 universities, 9 are located in the United Kingdom.
The UK universities are located in following regions: England (34), Scotland (5), Wales (2) and Northern Ireland (1). An interesting difference is that universities in Scotland are much older than in the other three regions: the median age of the Scottish universities is 513 years (range 127-598) compared to 101 years (range 39-912) in England and 107 years (range 88-125) in Wales.
In order to make a comparison with other industrialized countries, AllAboutUni.com calculates the number of universities in the World’s Top-500 (2008) per one million inhabitants. The overall number of universities per million inhabitants in industrialised countries is 0.5. An earlier assessment found that small countries in Western Europe (Sweden (1.2), Finland (1.1) and Switzerland (1.0)) and New Zealand (1.2) have the highest number of universities per million inhabitants.
The number of universities in the World’s Top-500 universities that are located in the UK is 0.7 per million inhabitants, which compares favourably with other large industrialized countries: Canada (0.6), Germany (0.5), United States (0.5), France (0.4), Italy (0.4) and Japan (0.2). For the four regions of the United Kingdom, the numbers are as follows: Scotland (1.0), England (0.7), Wales (0.7) and Northern Ireland (0.6).
Conclusions
Within the UK, Scotland has a much higher density of top universities compared to England, Wales and Northern Ireland. Scotland also performs very well compared to other industrialised countries and the number of Scottish universities per million inhabitants is one of the highest in the world.
The Academic Ranking of World’s Universities
0599 days
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in University
An assessment carried out by AllAboutUni reveals that California has a relatively low density of the World’s Top-500 universities compared to industrialised countries in the world. AllAboutUni.com is an independent, global and interactive website where visitors can obtain information about universities (global rankings, student reviews, university news and campus pictures).
The Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU) is produced by the Institute of Higher Education at the Shanghai Jiao Tong University. Several indicators of academic or research performance are used to establish the ranking, these include highly cited researchers, articles indexed in major citation indices and staff winning Nobel Prizes.
The World’s Top-500 universities (2008) are mainly located in Europe (n=210; 40%), the Americas (n=190; 40%) and the Asian/Pacific region (n=100; 20%). There are 159 (32%) universities located in the United States (US), of which 13 are located in California (click here).
California has a population of 37 million inhabitants, making it the most populated State in the US. It makes a very important contribution to the US economy and taken alone it has the world’s eighth largest economy in the world (in terms of Gross Domestic Product).
There are both public and private universities in California. The public universities are organized as follows: the University of California (UC) universities (10 campuses e.g. UC – Berkeley and UC – Los Angeles) which has a combined student body of more than 191,000 students, the California State Universities (CSU) which has over 400,000 students and the California Community Colleges system which provides lower division courses and has a student population of over 2.9 million.
The thirteen universities located in California that are in the World’s Top-500 universities are distributed as follows: nine UC universities (Berkeley, Los Angeles, San Diego, San Francisco, Santa Barbara, Irvine, Davis, Riverside and Santa Cruz), three private universities (Stanford, California Institute of Technology, University of Southern California) and one CSU university (San Diego State University).
An earlier assessment carried out by AllAboutUni.com found that 36% (n=57) – more than one in three – of the US universities in the World’s Top-500 are located in just five States: New York (15), California (13), Texas (13), Massachusetts (9) and Pennsylvania (7) (click here). The assessment also found that the universities are not evenly distributed, with California having a higher representation at the top of the list: in the World’s Top-25 universities, the distribution is California (6), New York (2), Massachusetts (2), and Pennsylvania (1) and Texas (0).
The six Californian universities in the World’s Top-25 universities are: Stanford (ranked 2nd), UC – Berkeley (3rd), California Institute of Technology (6th), UC – Los Angeles (13th), UC – San Diego (14th) and UC – San Francisco (18th).
In order to make inter-country comparisons, AllAboutUni.com calculates the number of universities in the World’s Top-500 per million inhabitants. The overall number of universities per million inhabitants is 0.5 for industrialised countries. An earlier assessment found that small countries in Western Europe (Sweden (1.2), Finland (1.1) and Switzerland (1.0) and New Zealand (1.2) has the highest number of universities per million inhabitants.
The number of universities in the World’s Top-500 universities that are located in California is 0.4 per million inhabitants. Large industrialized countries have the following figures: Australia (0.7), the Netherlands (0.7), United Kingdom (0.7), Canada (0.6), United States (0.5), Germany (0.5), France (0.4), Italy (0.4), Spain (0.2) and Japan (0.2).
In conclusion, despite California having some of the best universities in the world (e.g. Stanford, UC – Berkeley and the California Institute of Technology), the overall density of the World’s Top-500 universities is relatively low compared to industrialised countries in the world.
Best Universities of France
0600 days
by admin
in University
An assessment carried out by AllAboutUni reveals that France has a relatively low density of the World’s Top universities compared to other countries in the world. AllAboutUni is an independent, global and interactive websites where visitors can obtain information about universities (global rankings, student reviews, university news and campus pictures).
The Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU) is produced by the Institute of Higher Education at the Shanghai Jiao Tong University. Several indicators of academic or research performance are used to establish the ranking, these include highly cited researchers, articles indexed in major citation indices and staff winning Nobel Prizes.
The World’s Top-500 universities (2008) are mainly located in Europe (n=210; 40%), the Americas (n=190; 40%) and the Asian/Pacific region (n=100; 20%) There are 23 universities located in France, representing 11% of the European universities in the ARWU ranking.
France has a population of 64 million inhabitants and the eighth largest economy in the world and fourth third in Western Europe (in terms of Gross Domestic Product), after USA, China, Japan, India, Germany, United Kingdom and Russia.
Universities in France are predominantly public institutions. Interestingly, the best students attend the ‘Grandes Ecoles’ ['Grand Schools'] (a higher education establishment outside the mainstream framework of the public universities system). Whilst the universities are open to all students who finish their high school education (with a ‘Baccalauréat’), the ‘Grandes Ecoles’ require an additional entrance exam which is highly competitive.
In comparison to French universities, the ‘Grandes Ecoles’ are relatively small institutions. For example, the University of Paris 06 (ranked 42rd in the world) has 30,000 students and the Ecole Normale Superieure Paris (ranked 73rd in the world) has 2,000 students.
The Top-5 universities in France are: 1. University of Paris 06 (ranked 42nd in the world), 2. University of Paris 11 (49th), 3. Ecole Normale Superieure Paris (73rd), 4. University of Paris 07 (101-151) and University of Strasbourg (101-151). Overall, the ‘Grandes Ecoles’ only represent 5 of the top-23 universities in France and there is a very high representation of universities located in Paris (9 out of 23).
In order to make inter-country comparisons, AllAboutUni.com calculates the number of universities in the World’s Top-500 per million inhabitants. The overall number of universities per million inhabitants is 0.5 for industrialised countries. An earlier assessment found that small countries in Western Europe (Sweden (1.2), Finland (1.1) and Switzerland (1.0)) and New Zealand (1.2) have the highest number of universities per million inhabitants.
The number of universities in the World’s Top-500 universities that are located in France is 0.4 per million inhabitants. Other large industrialized countries have the following figures: Australia (0.7), the Netherlands (0.7), United Kingdom (0.7), Canada (0.6), United States (0.5), Germany (0.5), France (0.4), Italy (0.4), Japan (0.2), South Korea (0.2) and Spain (0.2). This means that France performance is relatively low compared to other industrialised countries.
At the top of the ARWU ranking, there are only three French universities in the World’s Top-100 universities. This compares to 54 for the US, 11 for the UK, 6 for Germany, 4 each for Canada, Japan and Sweden, and 3 for Australia and Switzerland. All other countries have fewer than 3 universities in the World’s Top-100 universities.
In conclusion, France performs poorly when its universities are compared to other industrialised countries in the world. Its best university is only ranked 42nd in the world and there are only three universities in the World’s Top-100 universities. Looking at the density of top universities per million inhabitants also reveals a poor performance compared to other industrialised countries.
Where are Top Universities in the World?
0601 days
by admin
in University
An assessment of the World’s Top-500 universities carried out by AllAboutUni found that a country’s top university is usually located in the capital city. AllAboutUni is an independent, global and interactive website where visitors can obtain information about universities (global rankings, student reviews, university news and campus pictures).
The Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU) is produced by the Institute of Higher Education at the Shanghai Jiao Tong University. Several indicators of academic or research performance are used to establish the ranking, these include highly cited researchers, articles indexed in major citation indices and staff winning Nobel Prizes.
The World’s Top-500 universities (2008) include a total of 38 countries. The AllAboutUni.com analysis looked at the top university in each country and whether it was located in the capital city. If there was more than one top university in a country and one of these is located in the capital city, the top university was considered to be located in the capital city. This was the case for Italy, where there are three top-universities (all ranked 101-151) and one of these is located in Rome (University Roma – La Sapienza). The analysis revealed that the top university was located in the capital city in 25 (66%) of the 38 countries.
The analysis was repeated for small and large countries, where large countries were defined as having a population of over 25 million inhabitants. This analysis revealed that in small countries, the top university was located in the capital city in 80% of countries (16 out of 20) and in large countries it was 50% (9 out of 18 countries).
In the small countries, the four countries where the top university was not located in the capital city were: Belgium (the top university was the University of Antwerp), Israel (University of Jerusalem), the Netherlands (University of Utrecht) and Switzerland (University of Zurich). In all other 16 small countries the top university was located in the capital city.
In the large countries, there are a number of good examples of the top university not being located in the capital city. In the United States, the top university (Harvard University) is located in Boston, Massachusetts, and not in Washington DC. In the United Kingdom, the top university (University of Cambridge) is not located in London and in Germany the top university (University of Munich) is not located in Berlin.
The reasons for this general finding go beyond the scope of the AllAboutUni.com analysis. However, factors like the economical, political, historical and even the religious development of a country will probably play an important role in determining the location of a country’s top-university. Generally speaking, these factors will favour the capital city and we found this to be particularly the case for small countries.
In conclusion, the AllAboutUni.com assessment found that top universities are usually located in the capital city (66% of all countries). This association was much stronger for small countries, where 80% of countries had their top university located in the capital city.
What Makes a Top University?
0607 days
by admin
in University
A number of assessments carried out by AllAboutUni.com indicate that the general characteristics of a top university are the following: being based in North America or Europe, being in an area where other top universities are clustered, having a large endowment and being a private institution. AllAboutUni.com is an independent, global and interactive website where visitors can obtain information about universities (global rankings, student reviews, university news and campus pictures).
The analysis is based on a ranking of the World’s Top-500 Universities produced by the Institute of Higher Education at the Shanghai Jiao Tong University. Several indicators of academic or research performance are used to establish the ranking, these include staff winning Nobel Prizes, highly cited researchers and articles indexed in major citation indices. The rankings have been published since 2003, with the 2008 ranking published on 15 August 2008.
Location An AllAboutUni.com assessment found that the World’s Top-500 universities are mainly located in Europe (n=210; 40%) and the Americas (n=190; 40%). In the Americas, 95% of the universities are located in the United States (84%; n=159) and Canada (11%; n=21).
Clustering An AllAboutUni.com assessment found that in both the United States (US) and Europe there is a clustering of the world’s top universities. In the US, 36% (57 out of 159) of universities – more than one in three – are located in just five States: New York (15), California (13), Texas (13), Massachusetts (9) and Pennsylvania (7). In Europe, more than one in three (36%) of the Top-25 universities are located in United Kingdom.
Public – Private An AllAboutUni.com assessment found that 70% of the World’s Top-10 universities are private institutions, suggesting that at the very top of the rankings private universities perform better than public universities (click here). In the World’s Top-25 universities, there is a lower predominance of private universities, with 11 out of 25 universities being private.
Endowment An AllAboutUni.com assessment found that the World’s Top-25 universities have accumulated a massive amount of endowment wealth (a total of $170 billion) and the private universities in the US have accumulated more wealth than the public universities. A large university endowment supports the operating budget of a university (for example, a third of Harvard University’s operating budget comes from endowment income).
Age An AllAboutUni.com assessment found that the age of a university was not associated with being in the World’s Top-25 universities (click here). Two good examples of ‘young’ universities achieving a high ranking are Stanford University (established in 1891 and ranked 2nd) and the University of California – San Diego (established in 1960 and ranked 14th).
Other factors Other factors that will determine the ranking of a university include: the university infrastructure (campus, facilities, etc.), the working conditions (academic salaries, academic freedom, etc.), the levels of funding (public and private funding) and the quality of life in the region where the university is located. Conclusion A series of AllAboutUni.com assessments has identified a number of general characteristics that help make a top university. The very strong performance of private universities in the World’s Top-10 universities (7 out of 10) suggests that private universities are better able manage the different factors and etablish a top university.
12 Dutch Universities in the World’s Top-500 Universities
0608 days
by admin
in University
An assessment carried out by AllAboutUni.com found that Dutch universities do very well in the World’s Top-500 universities. AllAboutUni.com is an independent, global and interactive website where visitors can obtain information about universities (global rankings, student reviews, university news and campus pictures).
The analysis is based on a ranking of the World’s Top-500 Universities produced by the Institute of Higher Education at the Shanghai Jiao Tong University. Several indicators of academic or research performance are used to establish the ranking, these include staff winning Nobel Prizes, highly cited researchers and articles indexed in major citation indices.
There are 12 Dutch universities in the World’s Top-500 universities (2008): University of Utrecht (ranked 47th), University of Leiden (76th), Free University of Amsterdam (101-151), Amsterdam University (101-151), University of Groningen (101-151), Delft University of Technology (152-200), Erasmus University (152-200), Radboud University Nijmegen (152-200), University of Wageningen (152-200), University of Maastricht (303-401), Twente University (303-401) and Eindhoven University of Technology (402-503).
Comparison with the World’s Top-500 Overall,
the World’s Top-500 universities are mainly located in Europe (n=210; 40%), the Americas (n=190; 40%) and the Asian/Pacific region (n=100; 20%). The Netherlands, with 12 universities, represents 2% of the total universities in the World’s Top-500 universities. If one adjusts for population size (i.e. one calculates the number of universities in the Top-500 per 1 million inhabitants in the country), the Netherlands performs very well compared to other industrialised countries. The countries with the highest number of universities per million inhabitants are the smaller countries in Western Europe (Sweden (1.2 universities in the World’s Top-500 Universities per 1 million inhabitants), Finland (1.2), Switzerland (1.0), Austria (0.9), Norway (0.8)) and (Israel) (0.8). The Netherlands comes into the next group of countries with 0.7 universities per million inhabitants (this group includes Denmark, Australia, Hong Kong and the UK). The number of US universities per million inhabitants is 0.5.
Comparison with the World’s Top-100universities
Universities in the US clearly dominate the World’s Top-100 universities, with 58 universities. There are 23 European universities, of which two are Dutch (the Universities of Utrecht and Leiden).
Age
The median age of the 12 Dutch universities is 112 years, ranging from 32 years (University of Maastricht) to 433 (University of Leiden). Many of the Dutch universities are young, with six of the 12 universities aged less than 100 years.
Endowments
Endowments can play an important role in the operating budget of universities, as demonstrated by the AllAboutUni.com assessment of the world’s Top-25 universities. Only one of the 12 Dutch universities reported an endowment on Wikipedia [accessed 22 November 2008] and this was the Delft University of Technology (€460 million in 2007). This is a relatively small amount in comparison to the World’s Top-25 universities whose median endowment is $5.9 billion.
Conclusions
The overall performance of Dutch universities compared to the rest of the world is very good. Despite not being represented in the World’s Top-25 universities, they have a very good overall performance with a high number of universities per million inhabitants in the World´s Top-500. Another positive point is that many of the Dutch universities are young and have progressed to the World’s Top-500 universities over a relatively short time period. The strong overall performance of Dutch universities is probably associated with factors like the good management practices, the high level of public (and private) funding available to Dutch universities and the long academic tradition that exists in the Netherlands.