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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
World
Ami Sedghi & Josh Holder

World's top 100 universities under 50: ranked by Times Higher Education

South Korea's Pohang University of Science and Technology has, once again, topped a list of the best universities under the age of 50.

The second annual Times Higher Education 100 under 50 rankings aim to show a "new breed of global universities - those that have managed to join the world's best in a matter of decades rather than centuries."

Swiss university, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne follows in second place and the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology takes third place.

Eight nations are represented in the top 10 this year, up from only six in 2012. Singapore and the Netherlands join South Korea, Switzerland, Hong Kong, the US, France and the UK, making it more diverse than the traditional world top 100 which is usually dominated by US and UK institutions.

In the world's top 100 universities 2013 ranking by the Times Higher Education, the US boasted 40 institutions. In comparison, the US has only eight representatives in the 100 under 50 list, putting the usually dominant nation into third place behind the UK and Australia.

Despite the UK's strong representation in the top 100, there is only one UK institution in the top ten, down from a tally of three in 2012. The University of York is the highest placed UK representative on the list, up one place to seventh position.

There are 18 UK institutions in total on the list. The University of Warwick (13th), Lancaster (14th) and the University of East Anglia (16th) appear in the top 20.

Australia performs well also, with 13 universities in the list. The highest ranking Australian institution is the Queensland University of technology at joint 26th place with the Canadian Simon Fraser university.

Once again, Asia performs well in the under-50 rankings. South Korea takes two of the top five places and five institutions from Taiwan make an appearance. Hong Kong also gets a special mention in the latest release due to the fact that the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (in at fourth place) was only founded in 1991.

So what else do the rankings show us? Here are some key facts:

• 28 different countries are represented in the top 100 – compared to just 20in the top 100 of the Times Higher Education World University Rankings
• Eight countries are represented int the top 10: south Korea, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Hong Kong, Singapore, the US, France and the UK
• The youngest institution in the list is Austria's Medical University of Vienna which was founded in 2004
• Spain, Portugal, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Italy and Greece all, which don't appear at all on the top 200 of the Times Higher Education world university rankings 2013, are represented in the top 100 under 50

Thirteen indicators across five areas - research, teaching, knowledge transfer and international activity - were taken into account. The full methodology can be found here.

And if you're wondering why your university doesn't appear on the list, according to Times Higher Education "the 100 Under 50 is designed to be dynamic and forward-looking, so only universities founded in 1963 or later are listed."

Download the spreadsheet to see the individual scores by institution. The spreadsheet also has details of last year's ranking and their overall ranking in the world top 100.

Times Higher Education top 100 under 50 rankings, 2013
2013 100 Under 50 Rank 2012 100 Under 50 Rank 2012 World University Ranking Rank Name Country Overall Score
1 1 50 Pohang University of Science and Technology Korea, Republic Of 75.0
2 2 40 École Polytechnique Federale of Lausanne Switzerland 71.9
3 5 68 Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology Korea, Republic Of 67.4
4 3 65 Hong Kong University of Science and Technology Hong Kong 65.7
5 4 96 University of California Irvine United States 61.9
6 19 115 Maastricht University Netherlands 61.7
7 8 103 University of York United Kingdom 61.6
8 16 86 Nanyang Technological University Singapore 61.4
9 6 81 Pierre and Marie Curie University France 60.8
10 new entry 92 Université Paris-Sud France 59.7
11 7 122 University of California Santa Cruz United States 57.6
12 12 124 Chinese University Hong Kong Hong Kong 57.2
13 13 124 University of Warwick United Kingdom 57.0
14 9 145 Lancaster University United Kingdom 56.3
15 29 167 University of Texas at Dallas United States 55.0
16 10 176 University of East Anglia United Kingdom 52.8
17 15 166 University Paris Diderot - Paris 7 France 52.0
18 18 182 City University Hong Kong Hong Kong 51.9
19 11 184 University of Illinois - Chicago United States 51.7
20 14 201-225 University of Konstanz Germany 51.6
20 new entry 196 University of Victoria Canada 51.6
22 24 201-225 Autonomous University of Barcelona Spain 46.9
23 28 226-250 University of Calgary Canada 46.0
23 25 251-275 University of Milan - Bicocca Italy 46.0
25 17 201-225 Pompeu Fabra University Spain 45.7
26 40 251-275 Queensland University of Technology Australia 45.5
26 30 226-250 Simon Fraser University Canada 45.5
28 44 251-275 State University of Campinas Brazil 45.4
29 20 251-275 University of Essex United Kingdom 44.8
29 22 251-275 Umeå University Sweden 44.8
31 new entry 226-250 Koc University Turkey 43.9
32 46 276-300 Universite Montpellier II France 43.6
33 27 276-300 Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences Sweden 43.4
34 37 276-300 University of Bath United Kingdom 43.1
34 46 251-275 Hong Kong Polytechnic University Hong Kong 43.1
36 33 251-275 Macquarie University Australia 42.8
37 30 301-350 National Sun Yat-Sen University Taiwan 42.6
38 36 276-300 University of Southern Denmark Denmark 42.5
39 32 226-250 Bilkent University Turkey 42.4
40 new entry 276-300 University of Bayreuth Germany 41.7
40 42 276-300 Bielefeld University Germany 41.7
40 45 276-300 University of Newcastle Australia 41.7
43 33 301-350 University of Wollongong Australia 41.4
44 35 301-350 Brunel University United Kingdom 40.9
45 55 351-400 National Taiwan University of Science and Technology Taiwan 40.5
46 58 301-350 University of Waikato New Zealand 40.4
47 68 301-350 Sharif University of Technology Iran 40.2
48 65 301-350 University of South Australia Australia 39.6
49 new entry 301-350 Medical University of Vienna Austria 39.4
49 39 301-350 University of Tsukuba Japan 39.4
51 59 301-350 Linköping University Sweden 38.9
52 49 301-350 Autonomous University of Madrid Spain 38.7
53 50 301-350 University of Crete Greece 38.4
53 60 University of Plymouth United Kingdom 38.4
55 50 301-350 University of Guelph Canada 38.2
56 43 301-350 University of Tromsø Norway 38.0
57 new entry 301-350 Claude Bernard University Lyon 1 France 37.9
57 new entry 301-350 Murdoch University Australia 37.9
59 57 351-400 George Mason University United States 37.7
60 63 301-350 University of Maryland Baltimore County United States 37.5
61 54 301-350 University of Eastern Finland Finland 37.4
61 50 351-400 University of Stirling United Kingdom 37.4
63 72 351-400 Heriot-Watt University United Kingdom 37.2
64 41 301-350 Johannes Kepler University of Linz Austria 37.1
65 69 351-400 Loughborough University United Kingdom 36.4
66 66 351-400 Aveiro University Portugal 36.3
66 78 351-400 Deakin University Australia 36.3
68 new entry 301-350 King Abdulaziz University Saudi Arabia 36.2
69 new entry 351-400 University of Duisburg-Essen Germany 36.1
70 53 351-400 University of Texas at San Antonio United States 36.0
71 67 351-400 Aalborg University Denmark 35.5
71 78 351-400 Flinders University Australia 35.5
71 56 351-400 University of Surrey United Kingdom 35.5
74 64 351-400 National University of Ireland Maynooth Ireland 35.3
75 62 351-400 University of Hertfordshire United Kingdom 34.6
76 new entry 351-400 University of Minho Portugal 34.1
77 48 351-400 Charles Darwin University Australia 33.8
77 new entry 351-400 University of Vigo Spain 33.8
79 71 351-400 University of Strathclyde United Kingdom 33.5
80 74 351-400 Polytechnic University of Valencia Spain 33.2
81 77 351-400 Massey University New Zealand 32.9
82 new entry 351-400 Paris Dauphine University - Paris 9 France 32.8
83 88 351-400 University of Technology Sydney Australia 32.5
84 86 Dublin City University Ireland 31.6
84 84 Florida International University United States 31.6
86 81 Griffith University Australia 31.4
87 75 Curtin University of Technology Australia 31.3
88 81 La Trobe University Australia 30.6
88 72 Liverpool John Moores University United Kingdom 30.6
90 new entry National Chung Cheng University Taiwan 30.4
90 94 King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals Saudi Arabia 30.4
92 85 University of Nova de Lisboa Portugal 30.2
93 new entry Tampere University of Technology Finland 29.9
94 75 Université de Paris-Nord - Paris 13 France 29.8
94 70 Yuan Ze University Taiwan 29.8
96 83 Aston University United Kingdom 29.0
97 80 University of Kent United Kingdom 28.9
98 95 National Yang-Ming University Taiwan 28.6
99 86 Polytechnic University of Catalonia Spain 28.4
99 new entry Open University United Kingdom 28.4

Download the data

DATA: download the full spreadsheet

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• Contact us at data@guardian.co.uk

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