Why ETH Zurich has been ranked the 'best university in continental Europe'
A new international survey of universities has ranked Zurich’s Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule (ETH) the highest in the world outside the US and the UK. How does this school excel?
The Times Higher Education (THE) World University Rankings 2022 have placed ETH in the 15th place (out of 1,600 surveyed worldwide). The school dropped from the 14th-place ranking the previous year.
Universities in the United Kingdom and the United States hold all of the top rankings ahead of ETH Zurich.
But as the top 14 are not in continental Europe, this means ETH has the unofficial title of the of best in Europe.
ETH Zurich ranks 15th place in the @timeshighered World University Ranking for 2022 retaining its top position in Switzerland and continental Europe. #THEUniRankings https://t.co/tmLYrpyPN0
— ETH Zurich (@ETH_en) September 2, 2021
What is ETH and what does it do?
It is a public research university focusing exclusively on science, technology, engineering, and mathematics
It has a “sister” school located in Lausanne, the École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), which specialises in natural sciences and engineering.
The EPFL ranked in the 40th place in the survey.
Why has ETH scored so high in the study?
“Our strategy is derived from our federal mandate to conduct fundamental research, train specialists and transfer new knowledge to the economy and society,” said ETH President Joël Mesot.
University ranking methodology is based on scores for high-level indicators relating to teaching, research, international perspective, and collaboration with industry.
“ETH’s overall scores show improvement in teaching, research, and publication citations”, the university’s rankings expert Paul Cross said.
However, it dropped slightly in terms of industry income and international outlook.
“Competition is fierce at the top tier of the rankings”, Cross noted.
Here are some interesting facts about ETH:
- It was founded in 1855 by the Swiss government to train engineers and scientists.
- Today 18,000 students from over 100 different countries study at ETZ, 3,800 of whom are doctoral students.
- So far, 21 Nobel Prizes have been awarded to researchers who have or had a connection with ETH Zurich.
- While tuition in the top-ranking schools in the UK — Oxford and Cambridge — costs well over 10,000 francs each year, and in the in the US universities, such as Yale, Harvard, Stanford and Caltech, the annual tuition exceeds 50,000 a year, at ETH it is 1,460 francs.
In all, Switzerland is home to seven of the world’s top universities. Aside from ETH and EPFL, they are University of Zurich (75th place), University of Bern (101st), Universities of Basel and Geneva (103rd), University of Lausanne (176th).
Complete ranking can be seen here.
READ MORE: Why Switzerland leads the world in innovation (Partner content)
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The Times Higher Education (THE) World University Rankings 2022 have placed ETH in the 15th place (out of 1,600 surveyed worldwide). The school dropped from the 14th-place ranking the previous year.
Universities in the United Kingdom and the United States hold all of the top rankings ahead of ETH Zurich.
But as the top 14 are not in continental Europe, this means ETH has the unofficial title of the of best in Europe.
ETH Zurich ranks 15th place in the @timeshighered World University Ranking for 2022 retaining its top position in Switzerland and continental Europe. #THEUniRankings https://t.co/tmLYrpyPN0
— ETH Zurich (@ETH_en) September 2, 2021
What is ETH and what does it do?
It is a public research university focusing exclusively on science, technology, engineering, and mathematics
It has a “sister” school located in Lausanne, the École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), which specialises in natural sciences and engineering.
The EPFL ranked in the 40th place in the survey.
Why has ETH scored so high in the study?
“Our strategy is derived from our federal mandate to conduct fundamental research, train specialists and transfer new knowledge to the economy and society,” said ETH President Joël Mesot.
University ranking methodology is based on scores for high-level indicators relating to teaching, research, international perspective, and collaboration with industry.
“ETH’s overall scores show improvement in teaching, research, and publication citations”, the university’s rankings expert Paul Cross said.
However, it dropped slightly in terms of industry income and international outlook.
“Competition is fierce at the top tier of the rankings”, Cross noted.
Here are some interesting facts about ETH:
- It was founded in 1855 by the Swiss government to train engineers and scientists.
- Today 18,000 students from over 100 different countries study at ETZ, 3,800 of whom are doctoral students.
- So far, 21 Nobel Prizes have been awarded to researchers who have or had a connection with ETH Zurich.
- While tuition in the top-ranking schools in the UK — Oxford and Cambridge — costs well over 10,000 francs each year, and in the in the US universities, such as Yale, Harvard, Stanford and Caltech, the annual tuition exceeds 50,000 a year, at ETH it is 1,460 francs.
In all, Switzerland is home to seven of the world’s top universities. Aside from ETH and EPFL, they are University of Zurich (75th place), University of Bern (101st), Universities of Basel and Geneva (103rd), University of Lausanne (176th).
Complete ranking can be seen here.
READ MORE: Why Switzerland leads the world in innovation (Partner content)
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