Africa Excels in Latest THE Rankings, China Performs Poorly

It is unlikely that you will see a headline like this in the mainstream media. Experts and analysts have focused almost exclusively on the number of universities in the top 10 or the top 50 or the top 100 of the Times Higher Education (THE) BRICS and Emerging Economies Rankings (BRICSEE) -- powered, in case anyone has forgotten, by Thomson Reuters -- and concluded that China is the undisputed champion of the world.

Looking at the number of  universities in the BRICSEE rankings compared  to population -- as in the previous post -- gives a different picture with China still ahead of Russia, India and Brazil but not so much.

Another way of analysing a country's higher education  system is by looking at the proportion of  universities that achieve "world class" status.

Assuming -- a big assumption I agree -- that getting into the BRICSEE top 100 is a measure of world class quality, then the percentage of a country's universities that are world class might  be considered a guide to the overall quality of the higher education system.

Here is a ranking of the BRICS and emerging countries according to the percentage of universities in the THE BRICSEE  top 100.

The total number of universities is in brackets and is derived from Webometrics.

First place goes  to South Africa. Egypt is third. Even Morocco does better than Russia and Brazil. China does not do very well although it is still quite a bit ahead of India, Russia and Brazil. Taiwan remains well ahead of Mainland China.

Of course, this should not be taken too seriously. It is probably a lot harder to start a university in Taiwan than it is in Brazil or India. South Africa has a large number of professional schools and private colleges that are not counted by Webometrics that may be of a similar standard to universities in other countries.

Some of the high fliers might find that their positions are precarious. Egypt's third university in the BRICSEE rankings is  Alexandria which is still reaping the benefits from Dr El Naschies' much cited papers in 2007 and 2008 but that will not last long. The UAE's role as an international higher education hub may not survive a fall in the price of oil.


1.     South Africa (25)     20.00%
2.     Taiwan (157)     13.38%
3.     Egypt (59)     5.08%
4.     Turkey (164)      4.27%
5=    UAE (50)     4.00%
5=    Hungary (75)     4.00%
7.    Czech Republic (82)     3.66%
8.    Thailand (188)    2.66%
9.    Chile (78)     2.56%
10.   Malaysia  (91)     2.20%
11.   China (1164)     1.98%
12.   Poland (440)     0.91%
13.   India (1604)     0.62%
14.   Morocco (212)     0.47%
15.   Colombia  (285) 0.35%
16.   Brazil  (1662)    0.24%
17.   Mexico  (898)     0.22%
18.   Russia  (1188)     0.17%
19=   Indonesia  (358)     0%
19=   Philippines (265)  0%
19=   Pakistan  (300)  0%
19=   Peru (92)     0%