For the third year, Reuters has published a list that identifies the top 100 educational institutions in Europe that, according to Reuters, do the most to advance science, invent new technologies and power new markets and industries. Switzerland’s two federal institutes of technology in Lausanne (EPFL) and Zurich (ETHZ) made it in the top ten of the ranking, with EPFL reaching spot 4 and ETHZ spot 10, respectively. Three other Swiss institutions were also selected among the top 100: University of Zurich (rank 13), University of Basel (rank 15) and University of Geneva (rank 74).
Political certainty is a plus
While the same institutes have been dominating the rankings for some time, Reuters observed a change with regard to political uncertainty. The two countries moving up the most cumulative spots in the rankings over the years were Germany (with a total of 23 spots) and Switzerland (with a total rise of eight spots), whereas the universities in the UK dropped a cumulative 35 spots. According to Reuters, the country’s impending withdrawal from the European Union already showed the effect that some scientists started leaving the UK for continental institutions.
As a general observation, smaller countries perform very well in innovation: Switzerland has more top 100 innovative universities per capita than any other country in Europe, except Belgium.
When asked to comment on the news by newsportal swissinfo.ch, the Swiss education community highlighted the Swiss universities’ openness and large networks that promote creativity and excellence.
Swiss universities and institutions regularly appear in top spots of international rankings. Only a month ago, the three Swiss universities EPFL, ETHZ and the University of Geneva have been selected among the top 10 of the world’s most international schools by Times Higher Education.
