Times Higher Education University Rankings 2011-2012

Times Higher Education has published its ‘World University Rankings 2011-12' recently. As per this ranking, California Institute of Technology is ranked as the world's top university and Harvard University at No.2. This time Harvard has lost its spot for the first time in last 8 years in a global ranking of higher education systems.

This year's rankling has revealed that American Universities continue to dominate higher education with seven US institutions within the top ten, and 75 in the top 200. The University of Oxford is rated top in the UK and Europe (4th globally), ahead of the University of Cambridge (6th). A total of 7 UK institutions ranked in the world's top 50 list. The others are Imperial College London (8th), University College London (17th), University of Edinburgh (36th), London School of Economics and Political Science (47th), and University of Manchester (48th).

Newcastle University (UK) is rated as one of the best 150 universities in the world, ranked in 146th equal position in the Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2011-12, climbing six places from the last year's survey. This places Newcastle equal 56th in Europe.

The World Top 10 Universities for 2011-2012:

Seven Australian universities secured places in the list of world's top 200 higher education institutions, with University of Melbourne rated 1st in the country and 37th in the world, followed by Australian National University (38th internationally, up from 43rd last year), University of Sydney (58th internationally, up from 71st last year), and University of Queensland (74th internationally, up from 81st last year).

The University of Auckland is the only New Zealand based university which was ranked in the global list and it has secured 173rd rank in the list.

Key facts about the World University Rankings 2011-12:

• The highest ranking outside UK and the USA is ETH Zurich - Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, in 15th position.
• The highest ranking Asian university is the University of Tokyo, in 30th place.
• The Netherlands has 12 universities in the top 200, with Utrecht University ranked highest at 68th.
• Italy doesn't have a single university in the top 200.
• Japan has five universities in the top 200, more than any other Asian nation.
• Israel is the only Middle Eastern country in the top 200 with Hebrew University of Jerusalem in 121st place and Tel Aviv University in 166th place.

This year the methodology to rank the universities has changed to put institutions with particular strength in the arts, humanities and social sciences on a more equal footing.

Source: Richha Bhatnagar (Shiksha Team)