World Top University Rankings: From Distribution to Implications on National Knowledge Creation and Competitiveness

This chapter studies the world rankings of top universities across countries and their implications for national innovation capability and international competitiveness. Since universities are institutions designed to create and transfer knowledge, top university rankings, to some extent, reflect countries’ capability of knowledge creation and human capital accumulation, which are the key factors for economic development and competitiveness. Making use of the Academic Ranking of World Universities data, the analysis is first conducted on the aggregate research scores of countries having universities listed on the league table. It then extends to examine the research output intensity by adjusting for countries’ economic power or market size. Each time, the research measures are compared across countries and geographical regions. While the United States’ dominance and China's fast rising in the league table is notable, the performance of other smaller countries is equally impressive when the scale factors are controlled