The Shanghai Rankings, officially known as Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU), are now published by an independent agency, the Shanghai Ranking Consultancy. They are the oldest of the global rankings and, with a generally stable methodology based on six research metrics, can provide valuable insights into the evolution of higher education over the last two decades.
The twentieth edition of ARWU confirms the trends that other rankings have identified. The number of European and English-speaking universities in the top 1000 has fallen since 2021: The USA from 200 to 190, the UK from 65 to 63, Canada from 28 to 26, Japan from 38 to 32. In contrast, another six Chinese universities have joined the top 1000 in addition to two from Pakistan, and one-from Saudi Arabia.
These trends become more noticeable when we look at what has happened since 2003. The number of US institutions in the top 500 has fallen from 161 to 126 while Chinese universities have increased from 19 to 83.
Harvard is in first place as it has been since the first edition. However, this year it has been overtaken by Princeton for the Awards indicator.
The rankings also indicate some countries in Asia and North Africa without a single university in the rankings.
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