The Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich (ETH) has been named the best university in continental Europe for the 16th year in a row. It has moved up two places from last year to reach number 7 in the rankings. In the recently published QS World University Rankings 2024: Top Universities compiled by Quacquarelli Symonds (QS), the British global higher education analyst has awarded 93.3 points out of a possible 100 to ETH. In an ETH press release, ETH President Joël Mesot says: “Ranking among the best signifies two things for me – it is testimony to the fact that our long-term investments in research and teaching are paying off, and serves as proof of my colleagues’ remarkable daily accomplishments.”
Only the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), in first place, achieved full points. It is followed in the rankings by the Universities of Cambridge and Oxford. With the exception of ETH and the National University of Singapore at number 8, the Top 10 list is dominated by North American and English universities.
Along with ETH, the Swiss universities of Basel (no. 124), St.Gallen (no. 436) and Freiburg (no. 563) improved their positions among the 1,500 universities analyzed by QS. The others slipped down the rankings. Switzerland’s second best university, the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne, dropped 20 places to number 36, while the third best, the University of Zurich, fell eight places to number 91.
According to a QS press release, Switzerland continues to produce world-class research, but its “slight drop in the overall rankings appears to be because it is struggling to spread its obvious quality around the world, and particularly in the labor market,” says QS Senior Vice President Ben Sowter. “Luckily, employment prospects for university graduates remain good, and the country should try to enhance them further by building partnerships with industry in order to systematically improve its reputation.”
