Finland’s universities are world class

Finland moved up from last year’s sixth position in the development-adjusted ranking for 2018. Altogether 50 countries were assessed in the U21 Ranking of National Higher Education Systems 2018, with Finland climbing to sixth from last year’s ninth position, based on overall performance. The US remained in first spot, followed by Switzerland, the UK, Sweden, Denmark and Finland.

The ranking is based on 24 attributes, such as diversity of the system, proportion of international students, number of research documents produced by higher education institutions, and government spending on higher education relative to the country’s GDP.

This year marks the seventh annual ranking of national higher education systems by the Universitas 21 network of universities. It stands out by focusing on the higher education systems of whole countries rather than assessing individual institutions.