Learn the reasons why these 6 universities are the highest rated in the world

Data from The Times Higher Education (THE), which comes from thousands of academics around the world, has indicated that out of a potential population of around 30,000 higher education institutions, education superior that exist in the world, only six universities -from only two countries- stand out as truly renowned academic brands.

Six o’clock “world university superbrands”, as we have called them, are in the following order in the 2022 edition of the ranking published this week: Harvard in first place, followed by Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Stanford, Oxford, Cambridge, and the University of California Berkeley.

Mark Sudbury, director of the World Reputation Network 100a group of members of the top communication heads of universities, which is part of THE, believes that when it comes to universities, “success breeds success”.

What accounts for the success of these universities and their “superbrands”?

Nick Dirks, who led one of the super-sextet, Berkeley, as its chancellor and who is now president of the New York Academy of Sciences, notes that the six institutions “come in three pairs – each pair connected by the co-location in one region, as well as a number of other synergies that have in turn created an ecosystem that is far more powerful than any single university.”

Stanford is paired with Berkeley in the San Francisco Bay Area, where Silicon Valley is located.

“Stanford became a great university after World War II by winning huge federal grants for its research, research that helped fuel Silicon Valley innovation. But it also drew on pre-existing resources at UC Berkeley,” Dirks explained.

“Berkeley had already created a tradition of academic achievement, recruiting extraordinary faculty and students in the Bay Area, while also building a reputation for excellence in basic science and in nearly every basic discipline. This allowed – and perhaps encouraged – Stanford to focus more on applied research in its growth strategy, even though it soon became a comprehensive university.

Similarly, he said, in the UK, Oxford and Cambridge – or Oxbridge, as they are commonly called – have strengthened each other thanks to their centuries-old “connections and interdependencies”.

Meanwhile, in Cambridge, Massachusetts, “Harvard’s traditional strengths…helped to leverage and create a niche for the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in its original focus areas of applied science and engineering.”

“There’s no question that the Bay Area and Cambridge, Massachusetts, innovation hubs owe much to the fact that each region had two world-class universities with complementary research strategies; in turn, the growing ecosystem of these two regions helped sustain and further empower their local universities,” Dirks said.

“Cities or regions with only one great university couldn’t compete with them, so for years New York, Los Angeles and Chicago lagged behind in innovation, science and technology.”

What other universities aspire to become superbrands?

However, for Sudbury there is no room for complacency. There are many emerging competitors to the traditional superstars.

beijing, in China, is a potential source. After having entered the top ten last year in the Word Reputation Rankings, Moving from 13th to 10th place, Beijing Tsinghua University ranks ninth this year. Its neighbor in Beijing, Peking University, has risen from 16th to 15th to 13th place in the last three years. Shanghai is not far behind as Shanghai Jiao Tong University ranks 28th, tying with Fudan at 39th.

Singapore is also an emerging global power, with a very important complementary partner: The National University of Singapore, which has moved up to 19th place, from 24th, along with Nanyang Technological University, which rises to joint 40th place this year. .

“Despite the continued success of superbrands,” says Sudbury, “reputation management still needs to be done, especially since the more visible a university is, the more likely it is to be a target for the challenge.”

SOURCE: World Economic Forum