Rankings for Students

What makes one university better than another?

More often than not, the answer from students, academics and other higher education professionals has been some quality test of university teaching or research.

But the Social Mobility Index aims to shift the focus to access and outcomes for students from disadvantaged backgrounds.

The 2016 university ranking for life sciences subjects, released today, once again shows the universities of Oxford, Harvard, Cambridge, Stanford and Caltech leading the way.

But in spite of US, and, to a lesser extent, UK domination in the highest ranks, German, Australian and Swiss universities have racked up an impressive performance.

Twenty-one universities in the top 100 for life sciences are in Germany, Australia or Switzerland – more than the UK’s 18 universities in the same range.

The economic value added to students’ lives by attending specific US colleges has been calculated for a non-profit organisation’s university ranking system.

Educate to Career (ETC), a non-profit that provides data resources relating to education and career outcomes, used a variety of metrics to measure the improvement in earnings and employability of graduates against the total cost of their education.

European universities are beginning to compete with North American institutions in the arts and humanities, as revealed by the 2016 subject ranking released today.

Many of the highest-placed European universities in the ranking have moved into the top 20 for the first time this year. In total, 13 of the top 20 are in North America and seven are in Europe.

The best university at which to study medicine is once again the University of Oxford, as announced in the Times Higher Education subject ranking released today.

It is notoriously hard to secure a place on Oxford’s medical degrees – only 12 per cent of all applicants in 2014 received a place on the prestigious course.

The best universities in Australia and New Zealand all fall within the top 250 universities in the world, according to the THE World University Rankings 2015-16.

Australia dominates the list of the region’s 11 best universities, with eight universities all ranked among the best 150 in the world, and one university in the top 250.

In October and November 2015, Times Higher Education will announce its series of university rankings for different subjects.

The six subject rankings supplement the 2015-16 World University Rankings, released at the end of September.

Although the methodology is the same, these rankings offer an alternative way to evaluate universities, based on which subject students hope to study.

 The 2015-2016 rankings out now.

For more than a decade, the Times Higher Education World University Rankings have been providing young people and their families with trusted guidance to help with this decision.

Not one US university in the Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2015-16 has more than 35 per cent international students, contrasting with institutions in Asia, Oceania and Europe.

An analysis of universities in the rankings shows that 16 of the 30 universities with the highest percentage of international students are in the UK, seven are elsewhere in Europe and four are in Australia or New Zealand.

This may well come as a surprise, since the US has long been a popular destination for teenagers looking to study abroad.

The best universities in the UK are going head-to-head with rivals in Germany, Switzerland and the Netherlands in the Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2015-16.

Many UK institutions in the top 100 are ranked just one or two positions away from those in mainland Europe that offer study opportunities at a fraction of the cost.