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Swiss universities score points in ShanghaiRanking

The Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich (ETH) is the best university in continental Europe. This is the result of the new rankings compiled by ShanghaiRanking. Four other Swiss universities were ranked among the top 100.

 ETH Zurich is the best university in continental Europe. Image credit: ETH Zurich / Gian Marco Castelberg
ETH Zurich is the best university in continental Europe. Image credit: ETH Zurich / Gian Marco Castelberg

ShanghaiRanking has presented its Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU) for this year. ETH Zurich was ranked in 19th place and is therefore the best university in continental Europe, with only universities from the USA and UK ahead of it. ETH was therefore able to defend its position from the previous year’s rankings. An additional four Swiss universities made it into the top 100, namely the University of Geneva (58th), the University of Zurich - UZH (61st), the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne (EPFL) (78th) and the University of Basel (87th).

ETH scores well with research findings

The ARWU rankings have been published since 2003, initially by Shanghai Jiao Tong University, and since 2009 by the consultancy firm ShanghaiRanking. Six evaluation criteria are used to rank the universities. These include the number of Nobel prize winners among the respective university’s alumni as well as the number of regularly cited researchers. The academic per capita output of the universities is also applied to the evaluation process. A total of 1,800 universities around the world are analyzed in the rankings. ETH Zürich achieved a score of 46.1 points overall, while the overall winner, Havard University in the USA, scored precisely 100 points. ETH recorded its best individual score for research findings, at 58.8 points. To assess this, the number of scientific publications cited is evaluated.

ETH demonstrates consistency

In addition to ETH, the top 20 contains a further three European universities, all of which are located in the UK. While the University of Cambridge came in 3rd place, the University of Oxford (7th) and University College London (15th) also ranked highly. Otherwise, the USA has a firm grip on the upper echelons of the rankings. With Harvard leading the way, Stanford University comes in just behind, while Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) takes 4th place. Universities from other countries only get in on the act from 24th and 25th place, where the University of Toronto and the University of Tokyo are ranked. The second-best university from continental Europe is the University of Copenhagen, which came in 26th place. ETH has taken 19th place in each of the last three years, maintaining its status as the best university in continental Europe on each occasion.

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