QS University Rankings: BRICS 2013/14 – Overview

Welcome to the first edition of the QS University Rankings: BRICS, a new university ranking highlighting the top 100 universities in the five BRICS countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa).

This new ranking has been developed by QS in collaboration with Russian news agency Interfax, and is based on a methodology developed in consultation with a range of key stakeholders and higher education experts across the BRICS countries. Its main aims are twofold: to highlight the strengths and achievements of higher education systems in these five major emerging economies, and to facilitate direct comparison of universities in these nations.

As with all of the QS university rankings, the QS University Rankings: BRICS has been developed with international students in mind. Zoya Zaitseva, the BRICS ranking project manager, says, “As for every QS ranking, it is not so much for the universities as for students and young professionals who want to plan their future career and find out what else is out there, beyond their home country. Employers, state officials, media and other users of the rankings are also quite important, but I’d say students are the main focus.”

The results of the first QS University Rankings: BRICS

So, which countries and universities come out on top in this first edition of the QS University Rankings: BRICS? While more than 400 institutions across the five BRICS countries were assessed, only the elite top 100 are included in this first edition – though QS aims to extend the ranking in coming years.

Of these top 100 universities, an impressive 40 entries are Chinese – and China particularly dominates the top section of the ranking, taking 7 of the top 10 spots, and almost half of the top 50. The next largest presence is claimed by Russia; a total of 19 Russian universities are featured, including one in the top 10 and six more in the top 50.

Next is Brazil, with a total of 17 Brazilian universities making the cut, of which two are within the top 10 and another nine within the top 50. India is represented by 16 institutions, with five making the top 20 and another one in the top 50. Finally, eight South African universities are included, of which one is in the top 20 and three more in the top 50 (it’s worth bearing in mind that South Africa’s population is less than 4% that of China – and as a result it has far fewer universities overall.)

Comparing the BRICS countries’ higher education systems

While China does dominate, the ranking suggests that overall, the higher education systems of the BRICS countries are performing at a comparable level. South Africa and India are the only two not represented in the top 10 – but they are very close; their highest entries, the University of Cape Town and the Indian Institute of Technology Delhi are ranked 11^th and 13^th respectively.

So overall, each country has institutions performing at a similar level – yet at the same time, there are significant differences when looking at national trends for each of the indicators used to compile the ranking. For example, Indian universities tend to come out ahead when measuring the percentage of academic staff with a PhD, while Russian institutions boast most of the strongest faculty/student ratios (number of students enrolled per full-time academic staff member).

A glimpse at the top performers in some of the eight indicators used to compile the ranking is provided below – but for more extensive comparison, the results can be sorted by indicator using the main ranking table.