The Lens
QS World University Rankings: Europe 2024
Commentary and insights by
Dr Ludovic Highman,
Associate Professor in Higher Education Management, International Centre for Higher Education Management (ICHEM), University of Bath
QS Strategic Rankings Consultant
Alongside creating a system of easily readable and comparable degrees using a common framework based on a three-tier degree system (i.e. bachelor, master and doctorate) and a common quality assurance mechanism (i.e. the European Qualifications Framework), facilitating mobility is one of the founding pillars of the European Higher Education Area (EHEA). The latter was launched in 2010 and now comprises 49 countries. Both government signatories of the Sorbonne Declaration (1998) and the Bologna Declaration (1999) that launched the Bologna Process highlighted the importance of intra-regional pan-European mobility. The Bologna Declaration devised a system of credits, known as the European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System (ECTS) as a means of promoting student mobility.
This helped students move seamlessly within Europe and enabled for academic qualifications and time spent abroad to be recognised by their home institution or in another country. For many governments, promoting mobility in Europe was also a way to recognise a European historical tradition of mobility. The latter dates back to medieval times and the foundation of Europe’s ancient universities in Bologna, Paris, Oxford, Cambridge and Salamanca, and was facilitated by the use of Latin as the lingua franca. In those times, it is argued that “students and academics would freely circulate and rapidly disseminate knowledge throughout the continent. Nowadays, too many of our students still graduate without having had the benefit of a study period outside of national boundaries” (Sorbonne Declaration, 1998).
Reviving this tradition of academic peregrination within the continent and its islands appears to be just as much a reflection of Europe’s past, present and future shared academic culture, one “which was and is European in its roots” (Zotti, 2021, p.30). The creative, diverse and ground-breaking “European history of ideas” (Zotti, 2021, p.19) is the product of this cross-border collaboration and mobility of people and ideas. It must be further reinvigorated in an increasingly competitive world where creativity and innovation are key to a nation’s economic and societal wellbeing. In other words, as said in the Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 3 film: “A populace unable to think, what hasn't yet been thought, will die on the vine” (Feige & Gunn, 2023).
Size isn’t everything!
Universities in small European countries open to research collaboration with their neighbours and to reciprocal student exchange do particularly well. Encouraging reciprocal mobility implies trust and recognition of another foreign institution’s degree programmes, which is greatly facilitated through the European Qualifications Framework. The number of highly ranked institutions from the Netherlands, Sweden and Switzerland attest to the success of institutions located in smaller countries, showing that size isn’t all that matters.
Sweden has three universities in the top 25, with Lund and Uppsala universities tying in joint 22nd position. Both universities share similar academic traditions (e.g. the student nations which are social clubs that offer a wide range of activities including meals, pubs, sports, nightlife, formal balls, traditional festivities and housing opportunities for members) and are among the oldest universities in the Nordic countries.
They are the Swedish answer to Oxbridge, what might best be referred to or coined as “Luppsala” because of their organisational similarities and shared academic excellence. They are regionally and globally highly connected, both being founding members of European consortia known as European Universities. Lund is also a member of the League of European Research Universities (LERU) and Universitas 21, while Uppsala is a member of the Coimbra Group, the Guild of European Research-Intensive Universities and the Matariki Network of Universities, to name but a few. They score highly under metrics such as IRN, showing a clear propensity towards fostering cross-border research collaboration, which is underscored by the country’s high ratio of international research collaboration, as measured through the ratio of publications that have international institutional co-authorship, at 65.9 percent (2018-2023, SciVal), far above the world average at 21.2 percent or even the EU average at 43 percent.
Dutch universities fare particularly well in this ranking, with two in the top 20, and 10 in the top 100. Delft University of Technology is the top-ranked Dutch institution in 13th position overall, made possible because of high scores for Sustainability, IRN, Academic and Employer Reputation, as well as ratios of international students and staff. It is an incredibly connected institution and is a member of the IDEA League, the Conference of European Schools for Advanced Engineering Education and Research (CESAER) and the Partnership for a European Group of Aeronautics and Space Universities (PEGASUS) Network. As with Sweden, a very high ratio of publications from Dutch universities include international institutional co-authorship (63.2 percent, 2018-2023, SciVal).
Switzerland reaffirms this trend with an impressive 69.8 percent of all its peer reviewed and Scopus indexed publications including international institutional co-authorship. It comes therefore with little surprise that Swiss higher education institutions are particularly well represented, with the two Swiss Federal Institutes of Technology of Zurich (ETHZ) and Lausanne (EPFL) breaking into the top 10 and ETHZ wedging itself between Oxford and Cambridge in second position. This is a feat all the more remarkable as these public federally-run institutions charge the same relatively low tuition fee regardless of nationality or place of residence. They also operate by law an open admissions policy for their Bachelor programmes for all students holding federal or federally accredited Swiss or Liechtensteinian matriculation certificates (e.g. gymnasialer Maturitätsausweis, Swiss Maturité) issued by any Swiss or Liechtensteinian secondary school (ETHZ, n.d.), demonstrating that the civic mission of a university and its contribution to the public good is a priority at national level.
With seven universities in the top 100, Switzerland punches above its weight and is the personification of a welcoming, open higher education system. The country seeks to embrace diversity and give every student a chance to enrol and succeed at its prestigious institutions. Institutions do this by being embedded in their local communities but also by being largely open to the world as evidenced through the high ratios of international students and international faculty at ETHZ and EPFL, and an exceptionally high ratio of international faculty at all ranked Swiss institutions. This enables Swiss-based students the opportunity to be taught by scholars from around the world, one of the many beneficial dimensions of internationalisation at home. As with the top ranked Swedish and Dutch institutions, their Swiss counterparts are highly regionally and globally connected - ETHZ being a member of the IDEA League, CESAER, the International Sustainable Campus Network (ISCN) and the International Alliance of Research Universities (IARU), the University of Zurich (35th) having joined LERU and Universitas 21 and the University of Geneva (=60th) taking part in both LERU and the Coimbra Group as well as the international M8 Alliance of Academic Health Centers, Universities and National Academies.
"While the performance of UK institutions is exceptional overall, there is a noticeable lacklustre participation in reciprocal mobility schemes, perhaps due to the UK’s exit from the Erasmus+ scheme in late 2020 and the lack of inbound mobility catered for by the Turing Scheme."
Reciprocal mobility
The UK has the highest number of institutions ranked in the top 100, with an impressive tally of 30 universities represented in this bracket. While the performance of UK institutions is exceptional overall, there is a noticeable lacklustre participation in reciprocal mobility schemes, perhaps due to the UK’s exit from the Erasmus+ scheme in late 2020 and the lack of inbound mobility catered for by the Turing Scheme. The UK has traditionally “combined two heterogenous approaches to cross-border student mobility in higher education, both on a large-scale, that were essentially incompatible. The first was commercial international education, exclusively focused on the inward movement of students into the UK, that had become (as it still is) a major source of funding for higher education, including research activity. The second approach was participation in the EU’s student mobility scheme Erasmus+, which is funded by the EU and based on the principle of reciprocity between inward and outward student movement” (Highman, Marginson & Papatsiba, 2023, p.219).
Internationalisation practises geared towards commercial international student recruitment, which now accounts on average for a fifth of UK universities total income (García et al., 2023), and even close to a third or more at some highly ranked UK institutions such as King’s College London (32.2 percent) or UCL (31 percent), should be balanced by more equitable and sustainable internationalisation practises based on mutual respect and recognition of prior learning not necessarily resulting in an economic return for the receiving institution. The purpose of the inbound exchange mobility and outbound exchange mobility indicators is to reflect the need for a more holistic and sustainable vision of internationalisation that recognises the importance of cross-border reciprocal mobility, while allowing increased opportunities for students to have an international experience as part of their degree experience, regardless of any economic incentive for the receiving institution. This principle of reciprocity is key to a more balanced and sustainable internationalisation strategy based on mutual trust and recognition of prior learning abroad and this is at the heart of the EHEA.
References
ETHZ. (n.d.). Application with Swiss matriculation certificates. Retrieved from https://ethz.ch/en/studies/bachelor/application/swiss-matriculation-certificate.html
Feige, K. (Producer), & Gunn, J. (Director, Writer). (2023). Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 3 [Motion picture]. United States: Marvel Studios.
García, C., Weale, S., Swan, L. & Symons, H. (2023, July 14). Fifth of UK universities’ income comes from overseas students, figures show. The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/education/2023/jul/14/overseas-students-uk-universities-income#:~:text=Fifth%20of%20UK%20universities'%20income%20comes%20from%20overseas%20students%2C%20figures%20show,-This%20article%20is&text=One%20in%20every%20five%20pounds,tuition%20fees%20for%20financial%20survival
Highman, L., Marginson, S., & Papatsiba, V. (2023). Higher education and research: Multiple negative effects and no new opportunities after Brexit. Contemporary Social Science, 18(2), 216-234.
SciVal. (2023). Collaboration. Retrieved from https://www.scival.com/home
Zotti, S. (2021). Academic mobility after Brexit: Erasmus and the UK post-2020. European Journal of English Studies, 25(1), 19-33.