Explore Higher Education – see the world!

Sometimes you just wonder if there is more out in the big wide world than you are aware of. This can be about holidays, people, and places to visit or, as this is a blog about Higher Education, universities! You may have heard about the Russell Group of universities in the UK, comprising 20 research intensive institutions which have quite a high media image, but have you heard of their equivalent in other countries? Such as the Australian ‘Group of Eight’, the Canadian ‘Group of Thirteen’, the American Ivy League institutions or the Universitas 21, which is a group of universities from 11 countries?


Apart from being useful to know in case these questions ever come up in a quiz they can help you be aware of the wider world of HE which you might want to consider. Some degrees in the UK can include time abroad as part of your study. Some uni’s may have links with other institutions abroad which you could benefit from. If you like league tables, of which there are many, the QS World University Ranking lists even more.


Normally this would primarily be of interest to those who like long lists but a helpful fellow in Germany has plotted the location of the Top 100 universities in both the QS World University Rankings and the Shanghai Jiao Tong exercise on a friendly, interactive Google map to be found here. http://www.university-rankings.net . All the other university groupings mentioned above can also be viewed on this website.