Mumbai: In the financial market Sovereign credit rating of a country assigned by international rating agencies is a key indicator for global policy makers, institutional investors and market experts to understand its economic and financial market strengths and weaknesses. Similarly, QS Quacquarelli Symonds, global higher education analysts, has come out for the first time with country ranking on higher education system, which will guide students, policy makers and educational institutes to rate a nation on higher education system.

The ranking has placed the US at the top while UK at the second position. In the top ten, European nations dominate with UK at 2^nd, Germany at 3^rd, France at 6^th, the Netherlands at 7^th.   

In Asia India is placed at 24^th while China leads the Asian countries with 8^th position. South Korea and Japan occupy 9^th and 10^th spot, respectively.

This year 50 countries are ranked across six continents. European accounts almost half of the 50 countries. Pakistan remains at the bottom of the list.
Each country is ranked on the following parameters:

System strength: How strong the higher education system is as compared to peer countries.

Access: The number of places available at the internationally ranked universities in each country.

Flagship institution: The rankings take into account strength and quality of each country’s leading institution.

Economic metric:  The quality of a country’s economic progress for its higher education institutions.

John O’Leary, Editor of the Times Education Guide and member of QS’s Executive Board, said “Assessing whole systems is not just about the top universities – if it were, Singapore would be much higher than it is and some European countries would be lower. The advantage of this ranking is that it looks at the quality and accessibility of higher education as a whole.”

Key takeaways of the report:   

• The US leads the ranking table, with Canada (5^th) the other top-10 North American nation
• Three Asian countries among top ten: China (8^th), South Korea (9^th), and Japan (10^th)
• Africa’s best-performing nation is South Africa, in 30^th
• 50 countries are ranked this year across six continents;

About QS Quacquarelli Symonds (www.qs.com)

Founded in 1990, QS Quacquarelli Symonds is the leading global provider of higher education and careers information, independent research and solutions. Its activities span across 50 countries, working with over 2,000 international universities and business schools. It is the publisher of http://www.topuniversities.com/, which is globally known for University Ranking, educational guides and events.