If you were asked to name the fastest-rising higher education system in the world, the likely answer would be China. Results of the latest Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2022 provide compelling evidence. The country now has two universities in the Top 20 for the first time, with Peking and Tsinghua jointly ranked #16, and a remarkable ten institutions in the Top 200, up from seven last year and just three decade ago. But when looking at the full list of more than 1,600 institutions in this year’s table, and comparing this alongside data from four years ago, you might be pushed to give a different response. On that basis, Saudi Arabia and Egypt would both be valid answers, suggesting that these nations might be most likely to emulate China’s success at the top of the ranking in future years. None of India’s 1,005 universities — some of over 150 years vintage is on the Top 200 score board.

But at a time when countries and universities are still reeling from the shock of the Covid-19 pandemic, progress for any country is not guaranteed. Sir Hilary Beckles, vice chancellor of the University of the West Indies, warns that coronavirus’ impact on lower-income countries presents “an existential threat,” while World Bank expert Roberta Malee Bassett says “getting back to normal operations” in these nations “will be delayed in a way that will not be experienced in wealthier countries”

Challenges are not confined only to poorer higher education systems, although funding does appear to be a major sticking point in many cases. Brian Schmidt, vice chancellor of the Australian National University, says if his country does not recover its pre-Covid market share of international students, “the reality is there is no other source of money on the (same) scale, and we’re going to do less research and we’re going to teach our students with less resources”.

But despite the rough terrain ahead, university leaders also tend to be eternal optimists, with presidents often implying that it would be impossible to do their job without an overabundant sense of hope. It is this faith — particularly in the people who make up universities — that will see them through the coming years.

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