Erasmus University Rotterdam has fallen substantially in the world university rankings published annually by QS. Last year, EUR ended in 90th place, whereas it is only in 126th place this year.
According to a university spokesman, the drop is the result of a ‘different methodology’. “It’s apparent that all technical universities have risen in the rankings, while Dutch universities have on average dropped. Our performance per faculty has not significantly worsened. In Arts and Humanities we rose from 298 to 259 and in Life Sciences we dropped somewhat. Not much has actually changed.”
Read more about the methodology of the QS rankings.
According to QS, 12 Dutch universities are among the world’s best 200. Five of them are even in the top 100. The highest placed Dutch institution is the University of Amsterdam at number 55, five places lower than last year.
Reputation among scientists and scholars
Forty percent of the QS rankings are based on the reputation of an institution among 75,000 scientists and scholars. Reputation among employers is also a factor, as is the number of students per lecturer, the citation scores of researchers and the number of foreign students and employees.
In the past, QS worked with British magazine Times Higher Education. The two went their separate ways in 2010. QS always publishes its rankings somewhat earlier than Times Higher Education.
Amerikanen op één
US universities at the top
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is in first place, followed by Harvard University in second. There are other US universities in the top 20, but also two Swiss and two Singaporean universities. An Australian university has also made it to the leading group.
