Ninth Consecutive Win for the United States in the U21 global HE System’s Rankings

For the ninth consecutive year, the US maintains its top position in the latest 2020 edition of Universitas 21 national higher education systems rankings. However, the UK has dropped from the third place in 2019 to the sixth position this year. Along with the US, the top five countries include Switzerland, Denmark, Singapore and Sweden.

The report’s authors point out the overall factors such as environment (#1), output (#1), resources (#10), connectivity (#13), knowledge transfer (#3) and joint scientific publications (#20) wherein the US ranks among the top 20, contributing to the country securing the top position, yet again.

The report demonstrates two types of rankings. A general, all-inclusive ranking and one attuned for GDP, to monitor the priority of education with respect to the kind of resources allocated to the sector by governments. The latter metric found that South Africa and Malaysia spent over 30% more than what had been expected for their income levels. Countries such as India, Serbia, South Africa, Brazil and Ukraine also saw improved rankings (up to 20 places) when measured in terms of their levels of economic development.

The chair of U21, David Eastwood, announced that 2020 was the final year of the U21 Ranking Project. The annual rankings have influenced international governments, university leaders related agencies and policy makers, globally.