Utrecht University chose not to be included on the Times Higher Education rankings

The fact that Utrecht University does not appear in the world ranking of universities this year was a conscious choice by the university itself. Utrecht University said it did not provide any data to the makers of the British trade magazine Times Higher Education’s World University Rankings, so they couldn’t determine a score.

According to Utrecht University, the rankings place “too much emphasis on scoring and competition,” while the university says it considers collaboration and openness of scientific research to be more important. Moreover, according to the Utrecht institution, it is “virtually impossible to capture the quality of an entire university with all the different courses and disciplines in one figure.” Utrecht University also has doubts about the way in which the ranking is drawn up.

Utrecht University was in 66th place in the World University Ranking last year. That made it the third university in the Netherlands, just behind Wageningen University Research and the University of Amsterdam. This year, TU Delft is the highest-ranked university in the Netherlands at 48th place. For the first time since 2016, a Dutch university is among the top 50 in the world.

For the rankings, Times Higher Education looked at data from 1,904 universities in 108 countries and territories. They assessed the higher education institutions on, among other things, the quality of education and research, ties with the business community, and international collaboration. The British University of Oxford has been the best-ranked university in the world for eight years in a row.