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After two years of falling participation, China rebounded in the Times Higher Education World University Rankings this year, and its institutions recorded some of the biggest improvements in position. 

The 2025 edition once again has the most representation from the US, which features 174 institutions (8 per cent of the global total of 2,092), followed by Japan, which has 119 (6 per cent), as shown in the below chart.

Close behind are the UK and India, which each have 107 representatives (5 per cent), a tie that would have seemed remarkable just a few years ago. While the UK’s total has remained largely stable since 2021, the number of Indian providers included has risen rapidly in the past two years – shooting up from just 75 in 2023.

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Turkish participation has also grown quickly, expanding from only 43 in 2021 to 91 in 2025 and closing in on China. After two years of decreasing participation, the number of Chinese providers surged back up to 94. Some of the other most-represented countries are Iran (81), the Russian Federation (81), Brazil (61), Italy (55) and Spain (55).

Examining the changing ranks of individual institutions shows how the fortunes of these countries have shifted in the past year – with only one of them recording a net positive score (see below map).

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Of China’s 94 institutions, 26 improved their positions on 2024 and six slipped in the rankings – giving the country a net change of +20: an improvement rate of 21 per cent. This meant that China recorded the second-highest improvement rate of all nations in the rankings with at least 10 institutions, behind only Sweden (which saw seven universities improve and three drop down, for an improvement rate of 31 per cent). China was also the only one of the 10 largest countries to record a positive score.

India (−7 per cent improvement rate) and the US (−6 per cent) narrowly miss out on a positive score, but others fare much worse – particularly the Russian Federation (−17 per cent).

patrick.jack@timeshighereducation.com