Global shift to technology places MIT at number 1 in world rankings

Global shift towards technology has propelled the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) unseating traditional popular

universities such as Cambridge, Harvard and Oxford. MIT takes the top spot for the first time in the 2012 World University Rankings.

According to QS Head of Research, Ben Sowter, “The rise of MIT coincides with a global shift in emphasis toward science and technology. MIT perfects a blueprint that is now being followed by a new wave of cutting-edge tech-focused institutions, especially in Asia”.

Reported by QS World University Rankings, “Nine of the top 10 tech-focused universities improve their position, led by MIT, Imperial College (6), Caltech (10) and ETH Zurich (13). Korea’s KAIST (63) is the biggest riser in the top 100, while Hong Kong’s HKUST (33) and Singapore’s Nanyang Technological University (47) continue their rapid ascent. Both were founded in the last 21 years.”

Out of the Top 700 universities, USA has 130 universities ranked with 6 in the Top Ten and 13 in the Top 20. UK does extremely

well taking 4 of the Top Six.

Australia has 7 universities in the Top 200 but the top universities such as University of Melbourne and Monash University has

declined in its performance from year to year in the rankings. Australian National University (ANU) is the first Australian university to enter the rankings at number 24 and the second Australian university to enter the rankings is The University of Melbourne at 36 with The University of Sydney at 39^th placing. The University of Queensland is next at 46^th. The fifth Australian university to enter is The University of New South Wales at 52, and with a campus in Sunway, Malaysia, Monash University is at 61 having dropped from the top 50 from previous years. The university of Western Australia comes in at 79 ahead of the first Taiwanese university entering the rankings which is National Taiwan University (NTU). University of Adelaide comes in at 102.

Another foreign university with a campus in Malaysia is the University of Nottingham, UK. They are ranked at 72. Launching a new campus at Johor, the University of Southampton is ranked 73^rd.

The top Asian university is the University of Hong Kong at number 23. Next is our neighbouring Singapore’s National University of Singapore (25), and third best Asian university is Tokyo University (30). Singapore’s National University of Singapore (NUS) joins the rankings at an impressive 25^thspot and the Nanyang Technological University (NTU) is the second Singaporean

university to enter at number 47.

Hong Kong universities continue to outperform Mainland China, with HKU, HKUST and CUHK ranking above Peking University (44) and Tsinghua (48). The Hong Kong University of Science & Technology is at 33. China has seven top-200 institutions. The first university from China to enter the rankings is Peking University at 44^th placing and next is the prestigious Tsinghua University at 48^th . Shanghai Jia Tong University is the third Chinese university at number 125. Next is Nanjing University at 168^th , Zhejiang University at 170^th and the University of Science and Technology of China at 186^th.

After National Taiwan University, the next Taiwanese university entering the rankings comes in at 192 which is National Tsing Hua University.

The first university from Ireland to enter the rankings is University College Dublin with the University College of Cork next at 190^th placing.

Universiti Malaya is the only Malaysian university to enter the rankings, coming in at 156^th placing.

1. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA
2. University of Cambridge, USA
3. Harvard University, USA
4. UCL (University College London), UK
5. University of Oxford, UK
6. Imperial College London, UK
7. Yale University, USA
8. University of Chicago, USA
9. Princeton University, USA
10. California Institute of Technology (Caltech), USA
11. Columbia University, USA
12. University of Pennsylvania, USA
13. ETH Zurich (Swiss Federal Institute of Technology), Switzerland
14. Cornell University, USA
15. Stanford University, USA
16. Johns Hopkins University, USA
17. University of Michigan, USA
18. McGill University, Canada
19. University of Toronto, Canada
20. Duke University, USA
21. University of Edinburgh, UK
22. University of California, Berkeley, (UCB), USA
23. University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong
24. Australian National University, (ANU), Australia
25. National University of Singapre, (NUS), Singapore