Harvard takes gold

16 augustus 2012 - Harvard University dominates the most recent Shanghai ranking. It ranks first for the 10th consecutive time. Newcomers are situated in Israel and Australia, while Europe’s share of top universities decreases from 34 to 31.

The Shanghai ranking is out. For ten years in a row, Harvard University remains the benchmark for all other universities worldwide. Also in the individual disciplines Harvard takes the first place in every category except engineering (MIT), Mathematics (Princeton) and Computer Science (Stanford).

Australia and Israel could place new members in the top 100. For the first time Technion-Israel Institute of Technology (78^th) and Weizmann Institute of Science (93^rd) join the ranks of the top. The latter is home to David Harel, renowned computer scientist who recently talked to ScienceGuide about the pioneer Alan Turing.

Universities in Switzerland, France, Sweden compete with the best

The United States placed 85 universities in the top 200. Next in line are the UK (19), Germany (14) and Japan (9). Europe's overall share of top 100 institutes decreased from 34 to 31 compared to last year.

In continental Europe, ETH Zurich (23), University of Paris Sud (37) and the Swedish Karolinska Institute (42) compete with the best. The latter has caught international attention in the past given that it will merge with Stockholm University and the Royal Institute of Technology to pool €1 billion in research funds.