The two highest-ranked Belgian universities in the Times Higher Education (THE) World University Rankings, Leuven and Ghent universities, have both risen several places. Oxford University continues to lead the list for the 9th year in a row.
Leuven University, KU Leuven, gains two places and now ranks 43rd. Ghent University, UGent, rises three places and is now in shared 112th position. There are four Belgian universities in the top 200, including the Antwerp University (shared 168th place) and the Francophone Catholic university of Louvain-la-Neuve UCL (175th place).
In general European, and especially Western European universities, are dropping back in the rankings. Only 91 European universities still feature in the top 200 compared to 99 in 2019. Moreover, most of the continent's universities also feature in lower positions in the new ranking.
At the very top again find Oxford University, followed by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard. The entire top 10 is dominated by US (7) and UK (3) universities.
THE ranks a total of 2,092 universities from 115 countries. That is 185 more than last year.
The THE rankings are based on parameters in four areas: education, research, internationalisation and knowledge transfer to industry. Education and research together determine the lion's share of the score.
The THE ranking is generally considered to be one of the most comprehensive of all rankings, as it is based on a broad set of 18 parameters.