German Universities Achieve High Rankings
German Universities Have Been Upgraded in the List of the Best Universities in the World
October 07th, 2015
The Times Higher Education (THE) World University Rankings has put 20 German universities between the 200 best universities in the world. They have been upgraded from just 12 in 2014. Germany has strengthened its position as one of the three leading countries in the field of education. Moreover, three out of the top 200 are ranked within the top 50 universities.
The annual THE survey of the Top 400 World Universities is a highly regarded barometer for comparing universities globally against each other. This year German universities have reached high positions and this is a signal of how good the university system works.
The LMU Munich is Germany's highest rated institution at 29th, closely followed by Heidelberg University and Humboldt University of Berlin in 37th and 49th place respectively.
The €2.7 billion injection to a small group of top-tier universities has been fundamental in causing the ripple effect, from which the other universities have taken advantage. This is part of a plan called Excellence Initiative, which is a project for promoting the latest research and creating the best studying conditions for young scholars. The Excellence Initiative aims to strengthen some selected universities more than others in order to raise their international visibility. The initiative is conducted by the German Research Foundation (DFG) and the German Council of Science and Humanities (WR) - where more than 30 universities in total received funding.
There are more than 350 institutions offering higher education in Germany, which is split into 16 Länder (regions) and each is responsible for setting its own university registration fees; with German university tuition fees generally being set very low in comparison to other countries around the world.
This chance to study and paying low fees combined together with the good rankings of German universities attracts students from all over the world. For this reason, many of the courses are provided in English to allow an ever increasing presence of international students to enroll in German universities.
Keeping on investing on research seems to be the right way to get the best results – the German model is the proof.
References and Links
- References:http://www.thelocal.de/20151001/german-universities-make-gains-in-world-rankings References:http://www.thelocal.de/20151001/german-universities-make-gains-in-world-rankings
Alice Desiderio, Berlin Global
