The system measures the scientific performance of 500 major universities across the globe and ranks them accordingly. Having been recognised for its objective methodology, it may prove to be a useful alternative to ranking systems such as The Times Higher Education.

Specifically, it ranks universities by their scientific impact and number of collaborations. For instance, it looks at the average number of citations of university publications and the proportion of publications that have been coauthored with other institutions. Leiden University claims these methods are more ‘transparent’ than those used in other, more popular ranking systems, that largely base their figures on opinion surveys.

The system this year has improved in a number of ways. For instance, it offers universities the possibility to exclude non-English speaking language publications from the research, as these publications will have a smaller readership and receive fewer citations. It’s hoped such changes will produce fairer, more objective results.

Interestingly, eighteen of the top twenty universities are American institutions, according to this system. The top university worldwide is Massachusetts Institute of Technology, followed by Princeton and Harvard. Switzerland’s École Polytecnique and ETH Zurich also feature in the top twenty. Cambridge was the top UK University at number 31.

Time will tell whether this updated system will prove more popular than the ever-growing list of competing rankings systems.

The top ten places are dominated by UK and US universities, with four UK establishments featured. Although claims that the new regulations and changes to the fees system may have an impact on 2012 results have already began circulating. Ben Sowter, Head of Research at QS told the BBC that he believed that is was “inevitable” that financial pressures would impact UK universities rankings in the future years, due to staffing, research productivity and the result of UK students looking to go overseas for their education.

The top ten institutions are as follows:

1 – University of Cambridge – UK (100.0)

2- Harvard University – US (99.3)

3 – Massachusetts Institute of Technology – US (99.2)

4 – Yale University – US (98.8)

5 – University of Oxford – US (98.8)

6 – Imperial College London – UK (97.6)

7 – University College London – UK (97.3)

8 – University of Chicago – US (96.1)

9 – University of Pennsylvania – US (95.7)

10 – Columbia University – US (95.3)

For a full list please click here.

Amongst those featured in the top 100 were eight Australian institutions, with Australian National University ranking an impressive 26^th and the University of Melbourne not far behind at 31^st.

East Asia has seen a distinct increase in their rankings with universities from Japan and Singapore leading the way as the University of Tokyo ranked 25^th , the National University of Singapore at 28^th and Kyoto University reaching 32^nd.

Amidst the lower rankings, it has emerged that a number of universities from Latin America and the Middle East making an appearance on the list.

Nearly half of young men of colour age 15 to 24 who graduate from high school will end up unemployed, incarcerated or dead. This jarring statistic is just one of many highlighted in two new reports that were released this week by the College Board Advocacy & Policy Center at an event held in collaboration with the Harvard University’s W. E. B. Du Bois Institute for African and African American Research in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The reports, The Educational Experience of Young Men of Colour: A Review of Research, Pathways and Progress and Capturing the Student Voice, are especially relevant given the need for these young men to attain postsecondary degrees if the nation’s economy is to thrive and compete globally.

The reports provide the most comprehensive data, research findings and recommendations to date to improve the educational experiences and pathways of young men of colour. The qualitative research study, conducted in collaboration with the Business Innovation Factory (BIF), provides findings from 92 in-depth personal student interviews that are captured through video storytelling.

The reports seek to give a balanced view of the educational issues that exist for young men of colour across four minority groups — African Americans, Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, Hispanics/Latinos and Native Americans — throughout the K-20 pipeline. According to the findings, just 26 percent of African Americans, 18 percent of Hispanic Americans, and 24 percent of Native Americans and Pacific Islanders have at least an associate degree. The reports also provide an analysis of the postsecondary pathways for young men of colour and identify the barriers and catalysts to college.

“At a time when our nation is committed to reclaiming its place as the world leader in higher education, we can no longer afford to ignore the plight of our young men of colour,” said Gaston Caperton, College Board President.

“As long as educational opportunities are limited for some, we all suffer. We rise as one nation and we fall as one nation. But if we keep working hard — if we keep listening to each other and to our students — we can soften our landings and reach historic new heights.”

“These reports cast into stark view what all Americans, unfortunately, have known for a long time: that access to education in this country is a right that not all of our children enjoy in equal measure,” said Henry Louis Gates, Jr., Alphonse Fletcher University Professor and Director of the W. E. B. Du Bois Institute for African and African American Research. “But the devastating numbers and the sobering statistics are a call to action through the recommendations outlined in this innovative report. Only with genuine and profound educational reform can we create equal opportunities for young men of colour and indeed for all Americans.”

Key recommendations outlined in the studies include encouraging policymakers to make improving outcomes for young men of colour a national priority, increasing community, business and school partnerships to provide mentoring and support for these young men, and improving teacher education programmes and providing professional development training that includes cultural and gender-responsive training.

To view the full College Board press release, please click here.

The QS rankings, which are scored out of 100 and based on research, internationalism, teaching and graduate employability, have been running since 2004.

Scoring over 90 out of 100, Harvard University easily came out on top for each of the three categories and both the University of Cambridge and the University of Oxford feature in the top 5 on each list.  Yale University, Stanford University and Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) also feature heavily in each of the top tens.

The University of Melbourne is the only Australian institution to have made the top ten, featuring at number 8 in the Psychology list. Other high listing entries from Australia, Canada and Singapore also mark a slight shift in the heavily US dominated list.

Talking of the new subject specific rankings, Ben Sowter, Head of QS Intelligence Unit says, “The new QS World University Rankings by Subject respond to a need for comparative data at a more granular level.

“In many countries students are being charged more than ever before for their degrees. So assessing the potential career outcomes of one’s study choice is becoming increasingly important”, he continued.

In an age where technology is moving faster than Usain Bolt off of the starting line, you can’t help but wonder where it will end. From chalkboards to interactive digital whiteboards, from textbooks and pencils to tablet computers and iBooks, the world of education is constantly evolving to take advantage of the digital revolution. Online universities and materials downloaded straight to your mobile phone seem to be the beginning.

Currently more than two-thirds of higher education institutions in the US offer online or part-online courses, including the prestigious Yale University. Meanwhile, other world-renowned universities such as Harvard and the University of California, Berkeley have begun an open source project, OER Commons where they provide free materials to their students.

The UK isn’t far behind with the Open University, an open access university where students can enrol and study from home. 263,000 students from 23 countries are enrolled making the OU an international pioneer of online degree courses.

Apple’s iTunes U download service is now being embraced by lecturers and universities worldwide. This means that students can now access materials and resources for their course and download them straight to their phone or computer. The Open Universities materials now makes up roughly 10% of iTunes U downloads, with an astonishing 31 million downloads to date.

There are a number of digital resources now readily available to students, including high-quality podcasts and televisual material which can be accessed on YouTube. Textbooks can now be downloaded and accessed at the press of a button containing interactive illustrations and select and search facilities.

So how will this affect the future of education? Well, surely it would mean that studying at Harvard may not mean relocating to the US? Long walks back from the library laden down with countless textbooks will be a thing of the past. And the highlighter pen will surely meet it’s untimely demise.

How have 21st century technological innovations changed the way you access educational resources? Do you think online learning is a positive step for higher education, or do you think the personal touch is more important? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.

Of the Top 50 institutions listed, the US holds 29 of the places, followed by the UK (6), Canada (3), Japan (3), China (2) and single positions for the Netherlands, Germany, Australia, Switzerland, Hong Kong, Singapore and Russia.

The survey was part of the Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2010-11 and was conducted in multiple languages with more than 13,000 higher education academics around the world; respondents were asked to highlight “what they believed to be the strongest universities for teaching and research in their own fields”.

The top six institutions which appear in the list – Harvard University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, University of Cambridge, University of California Berkely, Stanford University and the University of Oxford – scored far higher than the other institutions which made the Top 100, suggesting that these institutions are considered world-leaders by the majority of respondents.

The top institutions by country were:

• US – Harvard University
• UK – University of Cambridge
• Japan – University of Tokyo
• Canada – University of Toronto
• Australia – University of Melbourne
• Germany – Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich
• The Netherlands – Delft University of Technology
• Switzerland – Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Zurich
• Sweden – Karolinska Institute

You can download the full Top 50 Rankings, along with their individual research, teaching and overall reputation scores here.

The Times Higher Education magazine has revealed the much-anticipated results of their new university ranking system, showing which institutions around the world have made it into the Top 200.

The USA has emerged as the clear dominant force in higher education, with American institutions accounting for 72 of the top 200 universities worldwide. Contrary to the recent QS rankings, THE has placed Harvard at the top of the global list, followed by the California Institute of Technology and Massachusetts Institute of Technology in second and third position.

All of the top 20 universities in the THE rankings are from the USA and the UK, with the exception of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich. The British institutions which fared best were traditional favourites Oxford and Cambridge, sharing a joint sixth position.

The full THE Top 10 are:

1. Harvard

2. California Institute of Technology

3. Massachusetts Institute of Technology

4. Stanford University

5. Princeton University

6. (tie) University of Cambridge

6. (tie) University of Oxford

8. University of California, Berkeley

9. Imperial College London

10. Yale University

Countries which have invested heavily in universities, such as China, South Korea and Canada also performed well in the rankings, prompting commentators in countries which have seen funding reduced to call for a renewed focus on higher education investment.

Sally Hunt, general secretary of the University and College Union in the UK, said: “The simple truth is that countries investing in higher education are being rewarded and they will be the key players in the global knowledge economy.

“The UK has been punching above its weight and trading on its richly-deserved reputation for excellence. However, reputation alone will not be enough to compete with countries who enjoy the investment we so desperately need.”

The new Times Higher Education rankings have been based upon a major survey of university teaching standards, research income, academics’ qualifications, the staff-student ratio, the number of citations per research paper, and international student numbers.

How do you feel about the new THE rankings? Do you believe the new ranking methodology accurately reflects the quality of universities around the world? Leave your comments below.

Published last week, the list is topped by Harvard University for the eighth time in a row. The University of California, Berkeley was second and Stanford University in third. Occupying the top three spots shows a clear dominance for US institutions in a list based solely on scientific research strength.

The Shanghai Jiao Tong University list works differently to the Times Higher Education World University Rankings which has previously been largely based on the subjective views of faculty and students. The THE is this year conducting an overhaul of the way it ranks universities to fall into line with this more objective approach, in an effort to provide the most accurate and factual information.

The new ranking system is being developed in partnership with Thomson Reuters and is set to be more “sophisticated, transparent and rigorous”, according to the THE. One of the key changes is the introduction of a 30% weighting for ‘teaching and learning environment’, the first inclusion of a teaching reputation score in a global list.

UK universities will be hoping to fair slightly better in the new THE ranking system than they did in the Shanghai Jiao Tong University list. The University of Cambridge came in fifth, the University of Oxford tenth, with University College London and Imperial College London coming twenty-first and twenty-sixth respectively.

For more details about the new Times Higher Education rankings system click here.

Harvard, Stanford, Yale, Columbia, London Business School, INSEAD and Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) will be represented in London this Saturday 17 October by DocNet, an organisation of over 100 universities from around the globe.

It is the first event DocNet Consortium of Business Doctoral Programs has attended outside of the US and is part of the QS World Grad School Tour London fair, the largest series of graduate education fairs in the world.

DocNet educates potential students about careers in academia and engages in a variety of recruiting strategies aimed at increasing the pool of qualified applicants for doctoral-granting institutions.

Nancy Crouch, Program Manager of the School of Business PhD programme at the University of Connecticut in the US and DocNet’s representative at the fair says the organisation is interested in sharing its information with students from all geographic locations.

“London is an ideal location for us to speak because the metropolitan area draws a global population to one area. Among the most popular graduate topics for international students in the UK are economics and politics, and business and management.”

Peter MacDonald, Director of the Tour, says DocNet’s participation in London is recognition of the importance world class universities are placing on recruiting PhD candidates.

“There’s a great synergy between the QS World Grad School Tour and DocNet with the launch of our new PhD forums. We’ve responded to the growing demand for PhD candidates – both in the academic and corporate worlds – while DocNet continues to drum up interest in a career in business academia.”

DocNet also lobbies for doctoral programmes within its members’ respective colleges and universities and at the national level through AACSB International, the Graduate Management Admission Council, and the media.

The QS World Grad School Tour will be held in London on Sat 17 October from 1.00pm to 5.00pm at the Renaissance Chancery Court Hotel and will feature over 50 prestigious UK and international universities. DocNet will participate in the PhD admissions seminar from 2.00pm to 3.00pm. Click here to register for the free registration to this event.

The overall trends of the study showed a dwindling in the US dominance of the league table and a surge in Asian universities claiming places that could rival America’s Ivy League and the UK’s Oxbridge in coming years.

The top 10 was dominated, as usual, by the US and UK institutions with Harvard claiming the top spot for the sixth consecutive year. The University of Cambridge knocked Yale University out of second place. University of Oxford slipped by one place this year down to a joint fifth with Imperial College London. Overall there were four UK universities to the United States six in the top 10.

However the real success story is the Asian institutions, with appearances from institutions in Japan, Hong Kong, South Korea and Malaysia. Japan holds 11 places in the top 200 with the University of Tokyo ranking the highest at 22 and Hong Kong holds five positions, three of them in the top 50 starting with the University of Hong Kong at 24. Mainland China maintains its total of six institutions from last year, South Korea holds two places and Malaysia joined the league table at 180th place with Universiti Malaya.

Long Po Yee, a commenter on the Guardian website said:

“As a Hong Konger, I am really very happy to see that Hong Kong universities are in high quality. For me, I have studied in the Chinese Univeristy of Hong Kong (CUHK), and I felt that is really great and they offered green environment with quality education and facilities.”

You can download the full league table of all 200 universities here or visit the Times Higher Education website for a break down on the scoring for special areas of expertise.