By Martin Ince, convener of the QS Academic Advisory Board [imageright]https://www.qs.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/japan-flag-e1328553574514.jpg[/imageright] Japan is a safe, developed country whose culture has global appeal, an international centre for design and style. Just the place that students might flock to from around the world. Except that they don’t. As Japan’s university profile shows, Japanese universities do well on
By John O’Leary, QS Academic Advisory Board Ministers in the UK have become the latest to use QS rankings as a measure of universities’ performance. David Willetts, who is responsible for higher education in England, has challenged the country’s universities to win more places in the top 100 of the QS, Times Higher Education and
By John O’Leary, executive member of the QS Global Academic Advisory Board Universities in seven Arab countries have been classified as part of an international project that is intended to lead to a better understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of higher education across the Middle East and North Africa. The Institute of International
By Martin Ince, convener of the QS Global Academic Advisory Board At the QS World University Rankings®, we are always keen to see how other people go about looking at universities. This month has been notable for the appearance of the Leiden ranking, which offers a highly specific view of academic excellence as expressed
by Martin Juno Broadly speaking, higher education systems range from those relaying almost entirely on public funding to those mainly supported by private sources. Of course, there are a variety of options between those extreme points and most countries try mixed schemes. Which system provides the better outcomes in terms of university teaching and research
The US has always been popular with overseas students, perpetually leading international student population tables. The world sat up and paid attention, therefore, when it was revealed that, though total enrolment went up by 3%, new international student numbers increased by only a worrying 1% in 2009-10. This year’s Open Doors report, from the
For more than 50 years, applicants to UK universities have followed the same procedure. However, this may all change soon, as the University and College Admissions Service (UCAS) has proposed a revamp of the undergraduate admission process, which will see students applying to university after they receive their exam results, rather than before as at
By Martin Ince, convener of the QS Academic Advisory Board Anyone working in a European university may think they have enough to do already, but the European Commission does not agree. In a September policy document, it has put them front and centre in the hunt for economic growth. The Commission’s major economic document, the