QS HE System Strength Rankings
US ranked world’s best national system for higher education provision
QS’s new ranking assesses nations providing best environment for university success
London, 18th May 2016: QS Quacquarelli Symonds, global higher education analysts, have today released the 2016 instalment of the Higher Education System Strength (HESS) rankings. The ranking, which aims to identify the best national environments for higher education institutions, sees four European nations among the world’s top 10. The United States’ higher education system ranks in first place, ahead of the United Kingdom’s and Germany’s. France (6th) and the Netherlands (7th) join them among the top 10.
The rankings represent a new attempt to use university rankings performance alongside other metrics to assess the strengths and weaknesses of a country’s higher education environment. In doing so, they aim to assist governmental bodies charged with improving their nation’s higher education system to benchmark against competitor nations.
Other key results include:
- The United States leads the 2016 instalment, with Canada (5th) the other top-10 North American nation;
- Three of the world’s top 10 are Asian – China (8th), South Korea (9th), and Japan (10th);
- The Latin American nation with the strongest higher education environment is Argentina (18th); it is the only Latin American nation placing within the top 20;
- Africa’s best-performing nation is South Africa, in 30th;
- 50 countries are ranked this year across six continents;
- Europe is more featured than any other continent, with 22 of its nations providing a top-50 higher education institution.