This month, the Times Higher Education Supplement (THES) published its worldwide ranking of universities. The 2006 rankings are the third exercise of this kind by the THES. As the THES puts it, “the elite institutions have mostly held their places, but below is a host of challengers from around the world”. Harvard University is, like last year, the leader. Out of the top 10 institutions, seven are from the US and three from the UK, i.e. Cambridge, Oxford and Imperial College, on positions two and three respectively, and all up from the previous year. Universities in English-speaking countries dominate the top 200, with the US easily in the lead (55), the UK second (29) and Australia in a good position. Continental Europe still figures strongly, though not on the places at the very top: out of the leading 200 institutions, an astonishing 10 and six come from the Netherlands and Switzerland respectively. Germany occupies eight out of the top 200 positions, and France six. Spain and Italy have only one university each in this group. Asian universities are still not too numerous. China has only five in the top 200, although two of them occupy relatively high ranks (no. 14 and 28), and India four. Japan, with 10 institutions, figures relatively strongly. No single university from Latin America or Africa is among the top 200. THES World University Rankings