Column chart showing the 500 world-class universities by nation. In 2009, the 20 top ranking nations are the following. USA have 152 universities or 30% of the total. United Kingdom 40 or 8%. Germany  40 or 8%. Japan 31 or 6%. China 30 or 6%. France 23 or 5%. Canada 22 or 4%. Italy 21 or 4%. Australia 17 or 3%. Netherlands 12 or 2%. Spain 11 or 2%. Sweden 11 or 2%. Korea 9 or 2%. Switzerland 8 or 2%. Belgium 7 or 1.4%. Austria 7 or 1.4%. Israel 7 or 1.4%. Brazil 6 or 1.2%. Finland 5 or 1.0%. New Zealand 5 or 1.0%.

Rich nations have most of the 500 world-class universities, as one should expect. Asian rising influence is shown by the presence of China, Japan and Korea amongst the top 20. At the opposite side of the spectrum, Latin America and Africa appear as the poor or even destitute relatives of the family. A question to ask is whether wealthy countries are rich because they have fine universities, or whether they have good universities because this a luxury they can afford.

 

500 World-Class Universities

Country

2003

2004

2005

2006

2007

2008

2009

Number%
USA16117016816716615915230.3%
Germany424340404140408.0%
United Kingdom424240434242408.0%
Japan363634323331316.2%
China98891430306.0%
France222221212323234.6%
Canada242323222221224.4%
Italy222323232022214.2%
Australia131414161715173.4%
Netherlands121212121212122.4%
Spain1399999112.2%
Sweden101011111111112.2%
Korea88898891.8%
Switzerland88888881.6%
Austria45677771.4%
Belgium77777771.4%
Israel67777671.4%
Brazil44445661.2%
Finland65555651.0%
New Zealand33555551.0%
Denmark65554440.8%
Norway34444440.8%
Ireland33333330.6%
South Africa 44444330.6%
Chile11112220.4%
Greece22222220.4%
Hungary23222220.4%
India 33322220.4%
Poland32322220.4%
Portugal11102220.4%
Russia22222220.4%
Singapore22222220.4%
Argentina11111110.2%
Czech11111110.2%
Iran00000010.2%
Mexico11111110.2%
Saudi Arabia00000010.2%
Slovenia10001110.2%
Turkey20201110.2%
Egypt00011000.0%
Hong Kong 55555000.0%
Taiwan53556000.0%
Total500502500500510503501100.0%

[]

 

Sources: see Institute of Higher Education, Shanghai.

 

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