KU Leuven, 12th best European university

11/03/2016

Seven Belgian universities appear in the list of the 200 best universities in Europe, according to the British Times Higher Education (THE) ranking 2015-2016. Among these, KU Leuven occupies the 12th spot.

Every year, THE compiles a list of the best universities both at a European and worldwide level. This classification is established taking into account a number of indicators such as tuition, research, knowledge transfer, international perspective and even bibliometric referencing.

This year, the top 3 spots are occupied by Oxford, followed by Cambridge and Imperial College London.  The podium is taken up by British universities.  Furthermore, 46 university institutions of the top 200 best universities in Europe, in other words just under a quarter, are based in the United Kingdom.

With its 12th position, KU Leuven is the highest ranked Belgian institution of the 200 best European universities.  On the website, THE describes KU Leuven as being “a research-intensive, internationally oriented university that carries out both fundamental and applied research”. The six other Belgian universities ranked in the top 200 are UGent, UCL, UAntwerpen, Université de Liège, VUB and ULB. 

Belgium also has a presence in the top 200 best universities worldwide.  KU Leuven has climbed once again to the top of the Belgian rankings, earning the 35th spot. Three other Belgian universities also feature in the global list: UGent (118th), UCL (167th) and UAntwerpen (190th).

The Belgian universities have the highest student to teacher ratio and the fourth highest number of students among the European universities in the top 200.  Phil Baty, author of the Times Higher Education World Ranking, commented “It's great news that 7 Belgian institutions feature on this prestigious list of the best universities in the world. Belgium is now among the 70 countries who make up the elite.” 

The future also looks bright. In THE's 'top 150 under 50', a ranking of universities less than 50 years old, the University of Antwerp (UAntwerpen) ended at a great 11th place. The '150 under 50' ranking applies the same criteria as the global THE World University Ranking. It ranks young universities on their education, research, citations, international standing and revenue from the business world. In the traditional rankings, universities with a longer history often rank better as their long-standing reputation is in their advantage. Therefore, the 'Top 150 under 50' focuses on the performance and quality of the young universities, to spot upcoming top universities. Universities from 39 different countries are included in the list, with the Swiss university École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne in first place.