ETH Zurich again makes top 20 universities worldwide

Alessio Figalli (centre) is the latest laureate from the ETHZ. International awards are one of the criteria for the university ranking. Keystone

Five Swiss universities are among the best 100 higher educational institutions worldwide, according to the latest academic ranking.

The renowned Zurich-based Federal Institute of Technology (ETHZ)External link is in 19th place, unchanged from the two previous surveys, while the universities of Zurich and Geneva are in the top 60.

The Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne (EPFL) and the University of Basel also feature among the top 100 in the annual list published by the Shanghai Ranking ConsultancyExternal link on Tuesday.

The universities of Bern and Lausanne were placed in 101st and 150th place respectively.

In total Switzerland, has ten universities and two federal institutes of technology.

Universities in the United States and Britain continue to dominate the top 20 spots in the Shanghai ranking.

Harvard came out top for the 16th year ahead of Stanford University and Cambridge University in England.

The Shanghai survey, published annually since 2003, uses six indicators to rank institutions.

They include the number of alumni and staff winning Nobel Prizes and Fields medals, the number of highly cited researchers, the number of articles published in journals of nature and science, the number of articles indexed in Science Citation Index – Expanded and Social Sciences Citation Index – and per capita performance.