The number one factor for the society of the future (as well as the present and the past) is the development of human capital, the intangible asset that forms the foundation of human race development.
In a globalized world, higher education (university and research) is the focal point, the lever that will ensure a country’s success or lack thereof, and the attractiveness or lack thereof of a territory and megapolises which will be the true protagonists.
For this reason, the recognized reputation and quality of a university become one of the crucial factors: being a center of excellence is synonymous with internationalization and attractiveness.
The clerics of the Middle Ages were the origin of the Renaissance and urban growth: can we imagine Paris of the 12th century without the Sorbonne? And nowadays, Silicon Valley without Stanford?
This is why the annual rankings of universities established by various research institutions are not the Bible but still remain important indicators.
In a certain way, one could compare them to the ratings that credit agencies give to the financial strength of a state or a company, which are considered in the financial world during transactions.
A kind of thermometer that measures the health status, the importance of which is not so much the measurement of performance indicators but the comparison among those rated.
Yesterday QS° published its 2016-7 Ranking and this ranking confirmed the results of these past years: it is still the famous MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) that takes the top spot, followed on the podium by Stanford and Harvard.
The first European institution is the University of Cambridge, followed by its cousin-rival Oxford in 6th place.
The only non-Anglo-American university among the Top 10 is the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich (Switzerland).
The position of the National University of Singapore (12th), the first in Asia, is very interesting. Reading it, one better understands why this city-state of 5 million inhabitants is playing in the big leagues in many fields.
Two French universities are ranked among the top 100 of the 2016 batch: the École Normale Supérieure (ENS) which is 33rd and Polytechnique (53rd). Nothing to drool over…
And Nice, you might ask? Well, despite efforts, UNS is far behind, ranked in the 601-650 band. Nothing to be proud of, even though two partial rankings, Mathematics (201-250) and Natural Sciences (349) paint a less bleak picture.
Given that the number of universities considered and rated by this analytical study is 900, one might estimate that UNS is two-thirds of the way, and that the glass is half full.
But if one can be content with an “aurea mediocritas”, is it not better to “itur ad astra”?*
