TU Delft drops down the world ranking but is still the highest placed university in the Netherlands

No top 50 place anymore for TU Delft in the Times Higher Education Ranking that was made known on Wednesday. TU Delft drops from place 48 to place 56. Most other universities in the Netherlands drop too. Only the University of Leiden, the University of Amsterdam, Maastricht University and the University of Twente end up higher than last year. Like last year, only Tilburg University is not in the top 185.

The Times Higher Education (THE) website shows that TU Delft has lost out on the reputation scores for education and academic research. The ‘AD’ newspaper writes (in Dutch) that it asked THE whether the lack of social safety had played a role. The producer of the list could not answer this.

Just as last year, Utrecht University (UU) did not appear in the ranking. The institution had again decided not to share any information because it does not agree with how the ranking is compiled. The UU says that the data and methodology leave much to be desired. It believes that the ranking places too much emphasis on scores and competition. While the criticism is shared by others, including by the Universities of The Netherlands umbrella organisation, the number of participants around the world rose to above 2,000. Last year there were 1,907.

Respected decision

THE respects Utrecht’s decision, Phil Baty, its Chief Global Officer, told the HOP press agency. “But we are open for dialogue – and of course we would be pleased to welcome the university again next year so that the Netherlands is more honestly represented in this important research project.”

The THE Ranking was founded in 2004 by the Times Higher Education magazine which covers news about higher education worldwide. THE produces the ranking according to the information that universities themselves supply. They are evaluated on various criteria, including education, research and their international reputation.

While THE writes that the differences with other countries are becoming smaller, British and American universities dominate the list. Oxford University is number one for the ninth consecutive year. This is a record. Harvard University had managed eight consecutive years, but dropped down to third place this year. The other top five are the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (second), Princeton University (fourth) and Cambridge University (fifth).