CHINESE UNIVERSITIES outperform those of the US when the countries™ average incomes are taken into account, according to an international ranking of higher education systems. An innovative new Universitas 21 ranking for 2014 shows that overall, the UK has risen to eighth place in the world, overtaking Australia and Singapore.
The ranking of 50 countries compares measures including the percentage of gross domestic product spent on higher education; the policy and regulatory environment; connections with businesses and overseas institutions; the number of research articles produced and the proportion of young people who enroll in higher education.
For the first time, Universitas 21, a group of 27 research-intensive universities from across the world, has created a second ranking which looks at whether a country does better or worse on these measures than would be expected, based on the purchasing power of an average citizen.
On this measure, China is ranked ninth, six places above the US, according to the U21 Ranking of National Higher Education Systems.
Simon Marginson, professor of international higher education at the Institute of Education, University of London, explains that despite a relatively low per capita income, China is still a big enough country to allow œphenomenal investment concentrated in a small elite stratum of its universities. As a result, Chinese universities are now œserious players in research terms owing to a huge increase in their production of scientific papers, he adds.
The US still tops the Universitas 21 table when not adjusted for per capita wealth, and Marginson points out that the top 5 percent of US institutions do œoverwhelmingly well. However, he adds: œIf you look at the overall spread of higher education at a regional level, the US is not all that special.
East Asian countries have improved their positions in the main U21 table. Of the 10 countries from the region in the list, seven climbed up the rankings. The three that fell ” Singapore, Malaysia and India ” dropped by just one place, although India is now in bottom position.

(Excerpted and adapted from Times Higher Education)