(cm) A new blossom has been added to the colourful bouquet of university ratings (1). The Times Higher Education Supplement (THES) has published a new global ranking of the best 200 universities in the world (2). ETH Zurich is in place ten, which, according to THES, makes it the best university in continental Europe. As usual in such rankings, Harvard is rated the best university in the world with a score of 1000 points. ETH Zurich scored 553.7, just 4 points fewer than Princeton University on the 9th position. With a score of 289.4 points EPF Lausanne is in 32nd place, and thus the second Swiss university, with ETH Zurich, that features under the best 50. Moreover, when it comes to its level of attractiveness for foreign students, EPF Lausanne is one of the best in the world.

The partner institutions of ETH Zurich in the IDEA league all feature on the list of the best 200 universities. The Imperial College London reaches place 14, the Technical University of Delft place 78 and, at 184, we find the RWTH Aachen. ETH Zurich also has close ties with the ranking's number 3 in the framework of the Alliance for Global Sustainability (AGS), namely with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). The other institutions in this alliance also made the rating, the University of Tokyo on place 12, and Chalmers University (Sweden) on 110.

ETH Zurich is designated "citations champion" of Europe. In the data on cited research ETH lies in second place worldwide, only overtaken by the absolute leader in this category–the California Institute of Technology (Caltech). With 58% internationally renowned academics among its professors, ETH has "an astoundingly international profile", writes THES. ETH Zurich was a good example of how universities outside the Anglo-Saxon community could achieve top rankings.

Harvard is the undisputed leader. But the Times Higher Education Supplement rates ETH Zurich as the best university in continental Europe.

The chosen ranking factors were weighted as follows. Of major relevance was a recent survey of peers: Half of the final score was taken from a new survey of 1,300 academics from 88 countries who were asked to name the best institution in their own field. Cited research and the number of students per faculty were each accorded 20% of the score. To make up the final score the number of foreign students and the number of internationally renowned academics at an institution were accorded 5% each. The publishers promise a more detailed analysis of the ranking and discipline specific analysis in the next few months.