Trinity College Dublin, Ireland’s highest ranked third-level institution, has dropped five places to 139th in the latest set of world university rankings.
Of the nine Irish universities ranked in the Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2024, five dropped down the ranking, three remained in the same position, and one, Dublin City University, improved.
University College Dublin is in the 201-250 category, while the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (RCSI) is in the 251-300 category. It is followed by Dublin City University (351-400), University College Cork (351-400) and University of Galway (351-400), which dropped from the 301-350 category.
Maynooth University also dropped, from the 401-500 to 501-600 category. University of Limerick also fell from the 401-500 category to 501-600.
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Overall University of Oxford has topped the rankings for the ninth year in a row, Massachusetts Institute of Technology was in second place, and Harvard University in third. Princeton University was in fourth place, followed by the University of Cambridge. Stanford University dropped to sixth place, from second last year.
While there are more than a dozen world university rankings the Times Higher Education version is considered by many to be one of the “big three”, alongside QS and Shanghai’s Academic Ranking of World Universities.
Critics say university rankings are not an accurate measure of performance, and neglect key areas such as the quality of teaching and learning. However, they remain influential internationally in areas such as reputation, research and student choice.
Europe is now home to 91 of the world’s top 200 universities, a drop of eight universities from 99 in 2019, and many of those that remain within the top 200 are declining.
Phil Baty, Times Higher Education’s chief global affairs officer, said: “European universities should be in no doubt that competition in the ranking is increasing year-on-year, and this is coming from Asia, with universities from Chinese mainland and South Korea in particular rapidly moving up the table.
“With more universities participating each year it makes it harder just to even retain a position in the ranking. European universities need to work even harder if they want to retain their position in the higher echelons of our ranking.”
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