Rankings for Students

This is the 2016 ranking. Access the most recent table here

The top 100 universities with the best student-to-staff ratios are predominantly US colleges, closely followed by Japanese institutions.

Not a single UK university appears in the list, which includes institutions across 23 countries in North America, Europe, Asia and the Middle East.

What small universities lack in sheer size of their student body, they certainly make up for in the pride and passion of their students. 

After the Times Higher Education announced the top 20 world's best universities 2016, students, staff and alumni sent in their own experiences and reasons why they love being at a tiny institution.

There are two fundamental questions every prospective international student needs to ask themselves: Where would I want to study? And what language do I want to study in?

If the answer to the latter question is “English”, then your quest to find the right location just got that much easier.

A new visualisation tool, compiled by StudyPortals, has mapped the location of every English taught degree at the top 1,000 universities in the world.

My first experience of the ENS Lyon was as an Erasmus student. I’d opted for Lyon over Paris in a bid to sidestep some of the inevitable year-abroad clichés. Neither the city nor the university disappointed; I left Lyon to finish my degree, wishing that I could stay.

See the Times Higher Education World’s Best Small Universities 2016 table here.

One question has been playing on my mind for the past few weeks: does size matter to students?

I’m thinking, of course, about whether the number of students enrolled at a university has a significant impact on the student experience. Does it affect the quality of their academic experience for better or worse? Does it make any difference to their social lives and personal development?

Eunseo Kim, a chemical engineering student, on life at South Korea's small and prestigious university:

The best thing about POSTECH is an environment that is conducive to learning. We have small classes, and the low student-to-faculty ratio allows extensive opportunity for one-on-one contact with the professors during and after classes.

See the Times Higher Education World’s Best Small Universities 2016 table here.

Angelina Pham, a nursing student at Oregon Health & Science University, tells her story:

See the Times Higher Education World’s Best Small Universities 2016 table here.

Aaron Martes, a forensic psychology student, on the benefits of a small campus:

If I had to describe my top three favourite things about studying at a more intimate institution, it would be family, opportunity and adventure.

See the Times Higher Education World’s Best Small Universities 2016 table here.

Alex Lussignoli, an Italian-Swiss student at the University of Neuchâtel, describes his experience at this small university