I always like figures because they are objective. So, I like consulting the world ranking of universities.

The report is based on two assumptions:

– The universities of excellence reflect innovations which they produce in their country and their region.

– They are also the reflection more at least objective of the quality of the educational system of a country.

On base of the website “webometrics”, we can analyze the distribution of universities of excellence by region by taking back only the top 400 of the universities of excellence in the world.

1) Results by region of the world:

• In North America, we count 132 universities of excellence among the top 400:

– The United States counts 114 universities of excellence (distributed between position 1 and position 114). The Harvard University is in leading position (position 1).

– Canada counts 18 universities of excellence.

• In Europe, we count 169 universities of excellence among the top 400:

-England with 32 universities of excellence (distributed between position 5 and 393). The University of Oxford is in leading position in Europe (position 5).

– France with 14 universities of excellence (distributed between position 22 and 343).

-Switzerland with 7 universities of excellence (distributed between position 32 and 299).

– Holland with 12 universities of excellence (distributed between position 43 and 335)

– Belgium with 7 universities of excellence (distributed between position 44 and 369).

– Denmark with 4 universities of excellence (distributed between position 55 and 319).

– Germany with 33 universities of excellence (distributed between position 58 and 384).

– Italy with 19 universities of excellence (distributed between position 70 and 387).

– Sweden with 9 universities of excellence (distributed between position 75 and 352)

– Finland with 3 universities of excellence (distributed between position 101 and 385)

– Spain with 12 universities of excellence (distributed between position 105 and 396)

– Norway with 3 universities (distributed between position 126 and 242)

– Portugal with 3 universities (distributed between position 145 and 380)

– Greece with 2 universities (positions 223 and 291)

– Ireland with 2 universities (positions 233 and 268)

– Austria with 3 universities (distributed between position 234 and 357)

– The Czech Republic with 1 university (position 237)

• – The Russian Federation with 1 university (position 317)

– Slovenia with 1 university (position 354)

– Serbia with 1 university (position 367)

• In Asia, we count 72 universities of excellence among the top 400:  

– China with 36 universities of excellence (distributed between position 19 and 399). It is the Tsinghua University that is in leading position in Asia (position 19).

– Japan with 10 universities of excellence (distributed between position 27 and 391).

– Singapore with 2 universities of excellence (positions 29 and 47).

– Republic Of Korea with 8 universities of excellence (distributed between position 68 and 322)

– Taiwan with 4 universities of excellence (distributed between position 106 and 324).

-Hong Kong with 5 universities of excellence (distributed between position 119 and 167).

– Israel with 5 universities (distributed between position 163 and 389)

-Malaysia with 1 university (position 305)

– The Islamic Republic of Iran with 1 university (position 370)

• In Oceania, we count 18 universities of excellence among the top 400:

– Australia with 18 universities of excellence (distributed between position 78 and 394). It is they of University of Melbourne which is in leading position in Oceania (position 78).

• In Latin America and Central America, we count 5 universities of excellence among the top 400:

– Brazil with 4 universities of excellence (distributed between position 30 and 388). It is

Universidad of São Paulo USP who is in leading position in Latin America (position 30).

– Mexico with 1 university (position 331)

In Africa, we count 2 universities of excellence among the top 400:  

– South Africa with 2 universities of excellence (positions 262 and 398). It is

The University of Cape Town who is in leading position in Africa (position 262).

In the Arab world, we count 2 universities of excellence among the top 400:  

– Saudi Arabia with 2 universities of excellence (positions 255 and 279). It is

The King Abdulaziz University who is in leading position in the Arab world (position 255).

2) Results analysis:

We notice that more than 300 universities of excellence (75.25 %) being in the worldwide top 400 are located in North America (33%) and in Europe (42.25%).

Asia counts 72 universities of excellence (18 %) of the top 400.

Oceania counts 18 universities of excellence (4.5%) among the top 400:

Latin America and Central America counts 1.25 % of the universities of excellence of the top 400 with only 5 universities. 4 of them are located in Brazil.

Africa and the Arab world are the regions of the world with the least universities of excellence in the top 400. They have each 0.5 % of the universities of excellence in the top 400 with only two universities in each of these regions.

3) Hope for the future:

We can wonder what brought Latin America, Central America, Africa and the Arab world to be able to offer a reduced number of universities of excellence in comparison with North America, Europe, Asia and Oceania. Is it due to the history of these regions of the world, the various periods of colonization, the internal conflicts or/and the lack of international support?

I hope that these 4 regions of the world (Latin America, Central America, Africa and the Arab world) can develop their abilities for a hopeful future.

Bibliography:

Ranking web of universities on http://www.webometrics.info/en/world?sort=asc&order=Excellence%20Rank%2A