Something to think about in the staffroom during lunch break....
Why West is best for universities - The Globe and MailIn most aspects of current affairs, the world’s traditional economic leaders are losing ground to developing nations. But when it comes to top quality universities, the old powers remain firmly in the lead.
Of the top 200 universities in the world, 42 per cent are in Europe and another 42 per cent in the United States and Canada. Add in the countries which are basically European and American settlements – Israel, Australia and New Zealand – and the West’s share comes to 90 per cent. Those countries account for only 50 per cent of global GDP.
..............the method and precise rankings are debatable. Enthusiasts for the humanities will object that criteria favour science and industry. Still, the standing corresponds fairly well to the aspirations of academic and political leaders in both developed and developing countries. The rankings also favour a global outlook, which hurts countries with inward-looking universities.
Education is a high priority in developing nations, and prestige universities are like Olympic victories – a relatively cheap way to collect global kudos. So why does Denmark have more places than China in the top 200?
The university-friendly culture comes naturally to the West, where it was founded and has evolved along with the rest of society for centuries. Students from developing nations still flock to these global centres, which enhances their position further. Developing countries are steadily rising up the rankings, but this is one legacy asset of the old rich world which is likely to keep its value for many years.
“America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves.”
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considering that statistically one has more chance of being admitted to a psychiatric institution than being granted admission to a university in the West ..as opposed to the East ...then not much advantage
This is pretty much it. It's the same reason why the U.S. developed the atomic bomb--they took the greatest minds of the world together and had them work their assess off with ample funding, minimal politics, and little bureaucracy. Xenophobic, irrational cultures like Korea, Thailand, China, etc. will never have schools as good because they don't try to get the best and brightest of the world. America does (as do the UK and some other countries), which is why they will always have the best universities in the world.Originally Posted by russellsimpson
Anyone who has worked with people based in Western and Eastern universities knows that the latter is a quaint, sometimes sad, joke.
Yep, the best minds in the world always gravitate to bomb making.
Free thinking societies produce free thinkers .. amazing.
Assuming that's sarcasm, please tell us how Einstein and Oppenheimer were idiots, jd. We're listening.
On a side note.
Only 1 Thai varsity in top 400 - The NationKing Mongkut University ranked in 351-400 band on debut in Times Higher Education rankings
King Mongkut's University of Technology Thonburi is the only Thai educational institution to figure among the top 400 universities, according to the Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2012-13.
Leading universities from across Asia have made significant improvements in their rankings. Universities from China, Hong Kong, South Korea, Singapore and Taiwan have gained ground, the traditional powerhouses the US and UK have seen serious declines. China's massive investment in developing world-class higher education is paying off, according to Times Higher Education (THE).
The California Institute of Technology holds on to its top spot, while Harvard was pushed into fourth place by Oxford and Stanford, which share second place.
"This is the first year that KMUTT has participated in the Times Higher Education World University Rankings. It has made it into the top-400 list as it has achieved very good scores in the indicator Citation Impact," Phil Baty, editor of Times Higher Education World University Rankings, told The Nation yesterday. KMUTT is in the 351-400 ranking band.
"KMUTT has the most research papers per head in Thailand. I'm glad KMUTT is featured in the world rankings after our lecturers conducted lots of quality research projects. We will continue promoting more research projects," said Assoc Professor Sakarindr Bhumiratana, president of KMUTT.
"Our international rankings are getting better. KMUTT was ranked 352 in the QS World University Rankings 2012 in engineering and IT and in the 161-170 band in the QS Asian University Rankings. We were ranked 1,293 in the Scimago Institutions Rankings 2012," he said.
Last year, Mahidol University was ranked in the 351-400 band.
"The Times Higher Education World University Rankings works on a voluntary basis, following an invitation submitted to the individual institutions by the Times Higher Education's data provider, Thomson Reuters.
"We are delighted that six Thai institutions took part this year. This is an important global exercise and we would like to encourage more institutions to work with us so that an even clearer picture of higher education in Thailand can be formed, allowing Thailand to create a better benchmark for itself against the world's very best," Baty said.
Mahidol and Chulalongkorn have been taking part in the THE World University Rankings since 2010. KMUTT, Chiang Mai, Kasetsart and Thammasat all participated for the first time this year, he said.
The five main groups of indicators are, teaching - the learning environment (worth 30 per cent of the overall score), research - volume, income and reputation (30 per cent), citations - research influence (30 per cent), international outlook - staff, students and research (7.5 per cent) and industry income - innovation (2.5 per cent).
The annual THE rankings were published online last night at www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/world-university-rankings/.
That's funny. You and all those who call you daddy?
Plagiarized or un-plagiarized?
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Ho ho!
Made me wish I am a student from the West but I am not. It is nice though that there are universities participated and listed from Asia
Though, in truth, very damn few.
The article was more about politic economics rather than simple ratings
...in any case.
Ahhhh, ratings time at universities. There is about 10 different ratings scales that are operated. Most of them put Chula, KU, TU and Mahidol in the top 400 or 500. It all depends on how you rank the institutions. For instance, the rise of Chinese universities in some rankings is due to the prolific output of research, but, when you have a closer look, most Chinese students have to produce a research paper, often the research amounts to nothing more than 'The purpose of this research is to examine the usage of English amongst my friends on Weibo'. This is, apparently, counted as research and counts towards some rankings.
Thai universities fail, and will continue to do so, because they have (far more than the west) become training schools. You do not enter university to further your studies, you enter university to train for a career. Ok, this isn't entirely true, but it is largely true. The major faculties, the ones in which the most money is chucked at, are the 'trade' faculties. This is why Thailand will never rank amongst the world's best universities, it isn't that the education standards are significantly less (they are generally lower, but not THAT much lower), it is because universities are treated as trade schools. Ok, so there are some research facilities out there, but they really are not given the oxygen of research facilities in the West.
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