World University Rankings for Engineering and Technology 2015-2016 Announced

12 Nov 2015

Times Higher Education (THE), the internationally reputed resource that provides the definitive list of the world’s best universities, has published rankings of the top 100 universities for engineering and technology.

The THE World University Rankings are the only global performance tables that judge research-intensive universities across each of their core missions: teaching, research, knowledge transfer and international outlook.

The latest rankings have seen institutions in Asia significantly progress in these subjects, whilst previous educational leaders in the US and Europe have seen their supremacy falter.

Asia continues its progress in our engineering & technology ranking as the dominance of the US and Europe wanes: https://t.co/Tcazl5Z0o2

— TimesHigherEducation (@timeshighered) November 11, 2015

Asian universities currently dominate more than 25 percent of the list, earning 26 spots out of the top 100, a considerable improvement from last year’s result of 19.

In total, eight different Asian countries made it to the rankings. The Indian Institute of Science claimed 99th position, earning its reputation among the best STEM schools in the world, and putting India on the list for the very first time.

With six representatives, China has doubled the number of institutions it had featured on last year’s table, while both Taiwan and South Korea each boast another representative, with two and five universities, respectively.

Indian Institute of Science (#IISc) Bangalore makes a debut in world’s top 100 universities for engineering & technology.

— All India Radio News (@airnewsalerts) November 12, 2015

The National University of Singapore was ranked at 13th place, earning its reputation as the best university for engineering and technology in the whole of Asia. Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) came in at a close second, claiming 16th position in the rankings.

Tongxi Yu, HKUST’s acting Dean of Engineering, says the institution’s 2012 shift to four-year undergraduate degrees allowed for the creation of a curriculum that is “student-centric, broad-based, interdisciplinary and holistic in nature”, has led to the institution’s success.

Despite Stanford University withholding top position, and another five US institutions dominating the top ten, the power of the United States has waned since last year’s rankings, dropping from 34 representatives down to 31.

The UK has nine universities in our engineering and technology top 100 #THEunirankings https://t.co/4np7WvXLG0 pic.twitter.com/tnaRgHwaym

— World Uni Rankings (@THEworldunirank) November 11, 2015

Four out of 11 European countries that made it to the list- the UK, France, the Netherlands and Sweden- have also seen a slump on last year’s results. On the other hand, Turkey and Finland, the countries that snagged the bottom two positions on the previous table, have now fallen off completely.

Germany is the only European country to have gained an institution in the rankings, with the Technical University of Darmstadt taking 100th place, boosting its representatives up from six to seven.

Over the past two decades, Asian universities have implemented a number of reforms to keep up with global trends in education, and according to Alessia Lefébure, Director of the Alliance Programme, and co-editor of the book Asia: The Next Higher Education Superpower?, the success of these reforms reflects Asia’s rising educational influence.

#ETH ranked 8th in the world for engineering and technology by Times Higher Education! https://t.co/Af0hH2sBPk

— ETH Zurich (@ETH_en) November 12, 2015

She told THE: “The best performers are found in countries where motivated universities are nurtured by national and local governments that concentrate funding on the high potentials, push for innovation, and facilitate the transfer of knowledge from foreign partners.

“China has used this formula successfully since the late 1990s, but Singapore, Korea, Hong Kong and Taiwan have similar policies. Today most Asian countries are funding the training of thousands of PhD [students], especially in science and engineering. This is going to have a strong impact on Asian countries and economies in the next 30 years.”

View the full list of the world’s top 100 universities for engineering and technology

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