Swiss universities shine in global survey
Swiss higher education institutions, led by the Swiss federal technology institute ETH Zurich, continue to excel in the latest QS university rankings by subject.
Only six universities have more courses in the top ten by subject than ETH Zurich, all of them in the United States and Britain.
In 13 subjects the Zurich federal institute ranks among the top ten schools worldwide. Over the past five years, it has come first in the ranking by subject for Earth and Marine Sciences.
Overall, 26 courses offered by eight Swiss higher education institutions featured in the respective QS top tens by subject. No other country in continental Europe provides such a high concentration of world-class degree programmes, QS said.
“Over the past five years, the performance of the Swiss university system has clearly improved,” QS research director Ben Sowter told the Keystone-SDA News Agency. Its biggest improvement was in academic reputation, with a survey of 94,000 university students worldwide showing that the Swiss system is enjoying growing prestige, he said.
Lausanne not left out
Elsewhere in the annual ranking, the federal institute of technology in Lausanne (EPFL) had the second highest number of top-ten courses of study – seven of its departments were among the world’s best.
For Hospitality and Leisure Management studies, the EHL Ecole hôtelière de Lausanne was also ranked the best school in the world, QS reported.
Other hotel schools in French-speaking Switzerland were also marked highly. Les Roches Global Hospitality Education and the Glion Institute of Higher Education shared third place in this category, while the Swiss Hotel Management School moved up to fifth place.
Overall, the University of Cambridge led the subject rankings, with 38 courses in the top tens, followed by Harvard University.
QS first published their ranking in 2004. Along with the Times Higher Education and Shanghai rankings, it is one of the most cited indicators of university quality.
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