THE Emerging Economies University Rankings 2020: hidden gems unearthed

Browse the full Emerging Economies University Rankings 2020 results

The Times Higher Education Emerging Economies University Rankings were launched in 2014 in part to address a common criticism of international league tables: their focus on wealthy universities in rich countries in the Global North.

It was not a surprise that the institutions of Oxbridge and the Ivy League led, and by and large still lead, the THE World University Rankings, given their long histories of education and research, large endowments and well-established local and international partnerships.

But it was also true that there was an opportunity to shine a light on countries that were often overlooked in the global league table and to provide universities in such nations a chance to benchmark themselves against peers operating in similar economic environments. After all, the development of leading universities was at the heart of many of their national strategies.

Six years on, our picture of the developing world’s higher education prospects is more detailed than ever.

More than 530 universities feature in this year’s table – almost 100 more than last year – hailing from 47 countries, up from 43.

While China is home to seven of the top 10 universities, including all of the top four, there is little correlation between countries’ investment in higher education and their average performance in the ranking (although geography does appear to be a factor), as our graphic on page 37 reveals.

There are also signs that the increasing visibility of universities in emerging countries, as a result of their performance in the rankings, is helping them to cultivate partnerships with leading institutions in other countries.

Daniela Véliz, assistant professor of education at the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile, notes in our analysis (page 8) that the number of foreign universities that have requested a visit to her institution has “grown immensely” since 2014.

“Institutions that you would never have thought want to work with us really want to partner with us in many ways. In our school, we work closely with the University of Michigan and Stanford,” she says.

“In the past, we didn’t think that rankings in Latin America were going to impact so much the way we look abroad and [the way] we see each other. Now it’s not that we work for the rankings, but I think that rankings are relevant not to just Harvard and MIT and the University of Oxford; they have an impact in other types of institutions and countries.”

We look forward to continuing to provide data on these emerging markets and to helping to foster further collaboration.

Countries/regions represented in the THE Emerging Economies University Rankings 2020