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Countries with the Most Elite Universities

Name the countries of the world that have at least three universities ranked in the top 200.
According to QS
Quiz by Quizmaster
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Last updated: January 14, 2018
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First submittedNovember 7, 2016
Times taken75,140
Average score86.7%
Rating4.92
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#
Country
47
United States
28
United Kingdom
12
China
11
Germany
10
Netherlands
#
Country
9
Australia
9
Japan
7
Canada
7
South Korea
7
Switzerland
#
Country
5
France
5
Sweden
4
Belgium
3
Denmark
3
Spain
+45
Level ∞
Nov 7, 2016
Singapore only has 2, but they are both in the top 15.
+9
Level 86
Nov 7, 2016
I guess the Grandes écoles are not taken into account for France.
+3
Level ∞
Nov 7, 2016
Not sure. You can see the list by clicking the link in the caveats.
+6
Level 86
Jan 2, 2017
It seems they don't consider many of them. I don't like the Grandes écoles systems, but clearly France is better than what this list seems to show.
+10
Level 62
May 21, 2018
Grandes écoles =/= university.

Thus not counting.

+2
Level 67
Sep 5, 2022
I disagree. They are pretty much the definition of an elite university in France
+16
Level 82
Nov 7, 2016
Some of these numbers are particularly impressive for the smaller countries. In terms of millions of people per top 200 university, you get: 1. Switzerland 1.14, 2. Netherlands 1.42, 3. Sweden 2.00, 3. Denmark 2.00, 5. UK 2.17, 6. Australia 2.67, 7. Belgium 2.75, 8. Canada 4.00, 9. USA 6.67, 10. South Korea 7.29, 11. Taiwan 7.67, 12. Germany 8.10, 13. France 13.00, 14. Japan 15.75, 15. China 115.17.
+3
Level 57
Nov 10, 2016
Nice stats, I have a hunch there's a reasonable correlation with olympic medals per million of population
+6
Level 56
Jan 1, 2017
Are you suggesting that elite universities produce Olympic medals?
+1
Level 82
Jan 1, 2017
there's not
+2
Level 62
Feb 16, 2018
Maybe if you look at the American universities...Not when you look at the Canadian ones. IME American universities are as much about developing sport talent as intellectual talent, but that is more of a unique American trait, it doesn't carry over to other countries. I think that's why Uni sport in the US is so popular...
+3
Level 82
Feb 16, 2018
College sports in the US is a huge deal and it can be hard explaining how much this is true when I travel internationally because I don't think it's quite the same anywhere else.

However... it's rare that an American university is known for *both* academics and athletics. MIT, Harvard, Yale or Princeton are never going to be in the NCAA Final Four. Duke and Georgetown both have pretty respectable basketball teams. UVA has a decent football team. UNC Chapel Hill has a good basketball team. Florida has a good football team. But out of the top 50 universities in the US (academically), those might be the only ones with nationally relevant athletics departments.

+9
Level 90
Feb 16, 2018
And while we're on the topic, you forgot Michigan, Cal, Stanford, USC, Texas, UCLA, Notre Dame...

All top 50 universities with extensive, nationally successful sports teams. In other words, it is definitely not "rare" for an American university to be known both for athletics and academics.

In fact, a hefty proportion of American Olympians come from fairly prestigious universities. Why? Probably because training for the Olympics requires a similar kind of dedication as excelling at a highly competitive university, and additionally, both require a lot of money. In other words, there's a logical overlap of academics and athletes, both on a socioeconomic level and on a personal level.

+1
Level 66
Jan 16, 2019
lol, Notre Dame...
+2
Level 82
Jan 16, 2019
If something happens one way 80% of the time it's fair to say that happening the other way is rare, and some of those schools you listed are kind of stretching the definition of "nationally successful," even in the single sport that they excel at.
+2
Level 58
Jan 25, 2020
The UK (65 million people) beat the medal tally of China (1.4 billion) at Rio 2016
+1
Level 75
Dec 22, 2020
There's probably a correlation between elite universities and achievements in certain sports, but I'd be surprised if there are enough sports in that category to affect the overall Olympic medal tally. GDP, national specialisation, genetics, immigration-friendliness ... these probably account for almost all of that.
+4
Level 52
Jan 2, 2017
A lot of these countries have a large services and banking industry. You need well-educated people for that sort of job.

it is estimated that over 60% of Dutch nationals have a university, college or similar higher education degree. There is a terrible shortage of plumbers, electricians and carpenters though.

+1
Level ∞
Jan 2, 2017
Same in the United States. We have a lot of college educated baristas but a shortage of tradesmen. (At least in the major cities).
+9
Level 82
Jan 3, 2017
Most of those baristas have degrees in Women's Literature or Gender Studies, which barely even counts as an education. More like a certificate for surviving a 4 year long circle jerk. If you get a degree in something that is actually useful, there are jobs to be had in the USA.
+7
Level 62
Apr 6, 2017
kal I strongly disagree. I, as well as many people I know, have had an absolutely brutal time trying to find a job after college, even with STEM and business degrees. There are just too many college educated people and not enough jobs to go around.
+3
Level 75
Apr 24, 2017
True, QM. One of my nephews was an electrician which led to him creating his own successful manufacturing business, and another nephew is a carpenter and his son is a welder. Neither of them are ever out of a job, and both earn on the same level as my college-educated children. But I do agree with Kalbahamut that some college degrees are better than others when looking for jobs in the real world. Hang in there, TinklePork. I hope you find something soon.
+2
Level 82
Aug 1, 2017
@Tinkle.. ::shrug:: some fields are easier to find jobs in than others. Your friends might have wanted to do more research into this if what they wanted was expeditious employment and they were not, for example, following a passion or interest.

The year I graduated I got my degree issued on January 17 and was hired, granted a visa, relocated and in Korea working at a new job by February 1.

+6
Level 82
May 17, 2019
Also, I know many women, like my friend's lovely, highly intelligent, successful neurosurgeon wife, who understand that Gender Studies is total BS and the fact that it even exists as a subject is both an insult to her as a woman and detrimental to academia as a whole. She would have a lot to say about such ignorant and offensive comments.
+4
Level 66
May 26, 2020
Wow! I wish I knew a lovely, highly intelligent, neurosurgeon. I'd blindly take on board her opinions about everything.
+5
Level 82
May 26, 2020
Instead of blindly taking on board the opinions of what you read on tumblr and reddit? Whatever works for you. I prefer not taking on any opinions blindly. And nice job trying to sidestep the fact that you were asserting that you speak for all women, and with one example I proved you wrong. Don't over-generalize so much and it won't be so easy to make you look foolish.
+3
Level 78
Mar 12, 2021
You haven't made anyone look foolish.
+2
Level 82
Nov 30, 2021
I count at least 2
+2
Level 82
Aug 19, 2022
stubart seems to have since deleted his comment over-generalizing about women's opinions that I was responding to (about how they would all disagree with me). I'll take this as a tacit admission that I was right, and also that he disagrees with Homo.
+2
Level 49
Nov 4, 2023
just because you're not interested in a subject, it doesn't make it useless kal
+1
Level 49
Nov 4, 2023
I have a friend who is a surgeon and thinks gender studies is really important
+1
Level 90
Feb 16, 2018
Except that Princeton already has been in the NCAA Final Four and is a fairly regular fixture in the NCAA tournament.
+4
Level 33
Feb 23, 2018
Because they're automatic qualifiers by winning their conference tournament. Plenty of teams with losing records make it into the tournament every year because they win their conference, and winning a conference can be a cake walk depending on the level of competition. Not saying that Princeton is bad, but using them isn't a great example.
+1
Level 44
Apr 2, 2023
Princeton made the Sweet 16 this year!
+1
Level 74
Jan 1, 2017
Surprised India isn't here.
+8
Level 84
Jan 1, 2017
India's education system is an international scandal. Google some photos of parents standing on window ledges to pass answers to their children.
+3
Level ∞
Jan 2, 2017
Several of China's top universities are in Hong Kong, which might not have the same problems.
+3
Level 59
Aug 4, 2017
Err... What has that got to do with India's universities? You are aware that the best Indian universities do not select people like that?

I don't know how they rank universities; I think the Indian universities suffer in the rankings because they don't produce enough research.

+1
Level 62
Jan 27, 2021
India should be. According to the source 3 Indian Universities IIT Delhi, IIT Bombay and IISc are in the top 200.
+1
Level 16
Jan 2, 2017
Accept us for United States, sa for South Africa, nz for New Zealand?
+1
Level 16
Jan 2, 2017
My bad, South Africa and New Zealand aren't just on there.
+4
Level 60
Jan 2, 2017
But USA is accepted for United States.
+1
Level 16
Jan 2, 2017
Yes, that's pretty good, but 'us' is also accepted for the United States on most of the other quizzes that Quiz-master has.
+6
Level ∞
Jan 2, 2017
Nope. It's not accepted on any featured quiz.
+9
Level 59
Feb 16, 2018
Would you accept 'we'?
+1
Level 68
Jan 7, 2017
Surprised that Russia not have a single university on this list. I know the quality of education has slipped substantially since the days of the the USSR, but surely at least some of the Russian universities would still be considered top tier. I'm not faulting Quizmaster, more of a commentary on the ranking methodology used by topuniversities.com
+5
Level 73
Jan 13, 2017
The problem with the methodology is that they mostly take into account research done in english, so other big languages in the academic world like russian or spanish are not counted.
+3
Level 77
Sep 1, 2018
If that's true then it's an incredibly stupid way to evaluate them - sounds as though the evaluators themselves didn't get beyond high school. It also invalidates the entire list and, regrettably, this quiz.
+3
Level 66
Jan 16, 2019
Nothing stupid about it--virtually all the important academic work done in the world is done in English, regardless of where the researchers are based, because almost all serious peer-reviewed journals are in English. English is the lingua franca of the educated world.
+6
Level 37
Aug 1, 2017
The problem is that someone, somewhere in our past convinced us that manual labor was menial labor and that only a college degree would suffice. That's why today we have glut of Law School graduates, many of whom are toiling at city/state agencies at a meager salary and who have to pay a fortune to the electricians, plumbers and other manual laborers whom they were so much better than.
+1
Level 64
Jan 15, 2018
Italy has 4, perhaps should be added?
+1
Level 65
Feb 16, 2018
I confirm. Maybe the quiz is about 2017? In that case it should be specified above.
+1
Level 81
Feb 16, 2018
Facepalm, I tried Amsterdam instead of writing Netherlands. More like a face slap.
+1
Level 67
Feb 16, 2018
Yale at No. 16? Lol, okay.
+2
Level 80
Feb 16, 2018
According to the source India has institutions ranked at 172, 179, and 190. Wouldn't that count as 3 in the top 200?
+1
Level 45
Feb 17, 2018
Finland has also 3 universities in top 300!
+3
Level 50
Feb 17, 2018
The quiz is about the top 200. Only two of the finnish universities are there
+1
Level 68
Feb 17, 2018
New Zealand has two universities in top 200. We just a small wee country though, 4.6 million people.
+5
Level 71
May 19, 2018
per capita you may lose out to Sweden, Switzerland and Denmark. Just the obvious ones I could see. ;)
+1
Level 58
Nov 7, 2022
The netherlands actually have more per capita than Sweden and Denmark
+2
Level 67
Mar 13, 2018
On what is it based? Italy invented universities, and still Italian graduated are the most welcomed allover the world. Are they geniuses? Do they born with the instruction already inside their brains?Or maybe is the instruction system quite good?

Also, many italian people can't get a title in italian universitied, then they go to USA and have the best valutations. Anything strange?

Finally, all main european countries are in this list. Also Sweden or Netherlands or Switzerland, that are very smaller in population. Also Spain, that is similar, but with less tradition. But Italy doesn't appear.

+1
Level 82
May 17, 2019
QS's methodology factors Academic Reputation, Employer Reputation, Faculty/Student Ratio, Citations per faculty, International Faculty Ratio, and International Student Ratio. "Academic Reputation," the most weighted metric, is determined by surveying some 80,000 academics every year on their opinions about various universities' teaching and research quality.
+4
Level 59
Aug 5, 2019
Let me guess... Is there any chance that you are Italian ?
+1
Level 49
May 1, 2018
Missed Germany...doh!
+1
Level 39
Jan 16, 2019
2:05 remained :D
+2
Level 38
Aug 5, 2019
The two historical superpowers of Asia, Europe and their former colonies. Predictable.
+1
Level 66
Aug 6, 2019
That's true, but then again those Asian countries, Europe, and her former colonies do make up a good 95% of the world.
+1
Level 77
Jan 2, 2020
Nice to think UK is number 2! Our education is quite good.
+3
Level 66
May 26, 2020
Finland supposedly has the best school system in the world. but it doesn't seem to have any top universities for these well educated teens to go to.
+1
Level 57
Nov 6, 2020
...And they also have a tiny population. I’m sure they’d be on here if it were per capita, though.
+2
Level 82
Oct 2, 2021
They wouldn't
+1
Level 46
Feb 6, 2021
Absolutely wild that Denmark has more than Russia
+1
Level 82
Feb 26, 2022
Russia a broken kleptocracy now.
+3
Level 63
Nov 30, 2021
surprised the central african republic isnt on here...
+2
Level 85
Dec 21, 2022
American universities are rotting from the inside out.
+1
Level 60
Apr 3, 2023
28 in the UK and I ended up attending a crap one, ranked 75th out of the 120 UK Universities.