Responding to today’s (Wednesday 26 September) Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2019, Alastair Sim, Director of Universities Scotland said:
“Every Scottish university is committed to excellence. We want to do the very best for our students, our economy and our nation. Despite our commitment to excellence, we’ve seen an overall fall in rankings for Scottish institutions. This reflects the ferocity of international competition from nations that are investing in higher education to drive economic growth.
“A clear pattern is emerging between the level of resource available to higher education sectors by country and the trajectory of that country within global league tables. This year we’ve seen Japan overtake the UK as the second most-represented nation in the rankings for the first time. We’ve also seen Scotland’s number of universities in the top 200 drop from five to four. We need sustainable investment if we’re going to keep Scotland’s critical advantage as a place to study, research and do business.
“League tables might be something we love to hate but the global competitiveness of our universities definitely matters. Like other Scottish sectors that compete on the world stage, quality really counts in higher education. That is what makes international students, research partners and business choose Scottish higher education and what brings in additional investment to Scotland, to complement and cross-subsidise public investment and add value to the Scottish economy.”