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Denmark has the fifth best higher education system in the world

... And the second best in Scandinavia. U21 Rankings has released their 2019 report ranking 50 countries on resources, environment, connectivity and output
Denmark has the fifth best higher education system in the world

Universitas 21 is the leading global network of research-intensive universities, working together to foster global citizenship and institutional innovation through research-inspired teaching and learning. Each year Universitas 21 creates a U21 Ranking of National Higher Education Systems report.

The 50 national systems of higher education are evaluated across 24 indicators grouped into four modules: Resources, Environment, Connectivity and Output examining a number of institutions within a nation. An overall ranking is obtained by summing the module scores out of 100 using weights of 40 per cent on Output and 20 per cent on each of the other three modules.

This year the Danish higher education system is the second best in Scandinavia only surpassed by Sweden, and on a global scale it is the fifth best. The competition in the top of the ranking is very close – since Sweden only scored 0,4% better than Denmark.

Denmark reclaims rank in top 5

Denmark has reclaimed its spot from 2018, ranked at number 5 overall, in the new 2019 rankings.

Denmark is ranked fifth overall, which combines ranks of 4 for Resources, 22 for Environment, 5 for Connectivity and 5 for Output. Within the Resources category, it is ranked fifth for government expenditure as a share of GDP and 17th for total expenditure (public plus private) per student. Denmark is ranked first for spending on research and development by tertiary institutions (as a share of GDP) and second for the number of national researchers per head of population. In the Connectivity module, Denmark is ranked fourth by business for knowledge transfer, fifth for joint publications with industry, and seventh for joint publications with international authors. In Output it is ranked first for publications per head of population and third for their average impact. Denmark is ranked third for the overall quality of its universities.

Denmark maintains its overall ranking of fifth when adjustment is made for different levels of GDP per capita. Its score is well above that expected at its level of income.

View the full ranking report from Universitas 21.