The Netherlands is the third "knowledge country" in the world, with 4 and 12 Dutch universities in the top 100 and top 200 respectively, according to the Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2011-2012.

Top Dutch universities

› Utrecht University (68)
› Wageningen University (75)
› Leiden University (79)
› University of Amsterdam (92)
› Delft University of Technology (104)
› Eindhoven University of Technology (115)
› University of Groningen (134)
› Erasmus University Rotterdam (157)
› Radboud University Nijmegen (159)
› VU University Amsterdam (159)
› Maastricht University (197)
› University of Twente (200)
› Tilburg University (251 - 275)
(world ranking in brackets)

Top European Universities

› University of Oxford | UK (4)
› University of Cambridge | UK (6)
› Imperial College London | UK (8)
› ETH Zürich - Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zürich | Switzerland (15)
› University College London | UK (17)
› Karolinska Institute | Sweden (32)
› University of Edinburgh | UK (36)
› Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München | Germany (45)
› École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne | Switzerland (46)
› London School of Economics and Political Science | UK (47)
(world ranking in brackets)

About

The Times Higher Education World University Rankings were developed in concert with Thomson Reuters, with expert input from more than 50 leading figures in the sector from 15 countries across every continent. The rankings of the top universities across the globe employ 13 separate performance indicators brought together into five headline categories:
› Teaching - the learning environment (worth 30% of the overall ranking score)
› Research - volume, income & reputation (30%)
› Citations - research influence (30%)
› Industry income - innovation (2,5%)
› International outlook - staff, students & research (7,5%)