The 2012 ranking of the top 100 universities remains quite stable. In terms of absolute numbers the US dominate with 53 universities. The UK, number 2, comes far behind with 9 universities. The world best-in-class universities are located in North American and European nations, with the only exceptions of Australia and Japan.

The hierarchy is completely reversed when considering the number of institutions per capita (in this case, per million population, times 100). Now, the smaller countries put forward a dazzling performance, humbling the US Goliath. The top 7 slots are taken by Switzerland, Israel, Denmark, Sweden, Australia, Norway and Finland, in this order.

In per capita terms, small nations clearly outperform the heavy weights. Switzerland, for instance, achieves an index of 52.5, that is 3.4 times the median and 2.8 times the average index. The giant US occupy a modest 8th rank out of 16, with a score marginally above the median (16.5 against the median 15.5) and below the average (red line). The picture is even less kind to the likes of Germany, France, Japan and Russia that fill the lowest slots of the list, with comparatively low scores, well below the median and the average.

If, further to the academic performance, one also considers the comparatively high quality of life and the relative well being that enjoy the inhabitants of the small countries that appear in the chart, temptation is strong to believe that indeed small is beautiful — bigness may well be but a deceptive mirage and the pursuit of oversize, so earnestly engaged by numerous nations today, may lead to pitiful crashes.

Sources: Institute of Higher Education, Shanghai and UN Population Division.

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