Twelve Dutch universities rank among the top 200 universities in the world, according to the latest edition of the prestigious Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2012-2013. Only the United States (76) and the United Kingdom (31) have more universities in the top 200. Note that every Dutch university improved on its ranking from last year!

Leiden University has overtaken the Utrecht University as the top ranked Dutch university, rising from 79th to 64th place over the past year. Meanwhile UU rose one spot to 67th place, followed closely by Wageningen University in 70th place, Erasmus University Rotterdam in 72nd place (up from 157th last year), Delft University of Technology in 77th place (up from 104th last year), and the University of Amsterdam in 83rd place. Tilburg is the only Dutch university to not make the list.

Rotterdam and Delft were not the only universities whose rankings have improved dramatically since last year: the University of Groningen rose 45 positions to 89th place, Radboud University Nijmegen rose 32 positions to 127th place, and Maastricht University showed the biggest improvement, rising 82 positions to 115th place.

The California Institute of Technology is once again ranked the top university in the world, followed closely by the University of Oxford and Stanford University (tied for 2nd place), with Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology filling out the top 5.

Dutch universities in the Times Top 200

› 64. Leiden University (79)
› 67. University of Utrecht (68)
› 70. Wageningen University (75)
› 72. Erasmus University Rotterdam (157)
› 77. Delft University of Technology (104)
› 83. University of Amsterdam (92)
› 89. University of Groningen (134)
› 114. Eindhoven University of Technology (115)
› 115. Maastricht University (197)
› 127. Radboud University Nijmegen (159)
› 140. VU University Amsterdam (159)
› 187. University of Twente (200)

Comparison with other rankings

It is worth noting that several other polls have ranked Dutch universities very differently with respect to one another. TU Eindhoven was ranked highest in a recent survey of Dutch students, the UvA scored highest in the QS World University Rankings, Utrecht University was the winner in the Shanghai ranking, and Delft University was the highest rated Dutch institution in the Times World Reputation Rankings.