TRUST RANKINGS TRULY : UNIVERSITIES QUESTION ESSAY

HARVARD, where I teach computer science, used to consistently lead the '' Leiden Ranking '', which rates the research output of universities around the world.

Recently, though, Harvard fell to a dismal third, while eight at the top of  the 10 universities came from China.

Harvard remains at the top of other rankings, the Nature Index and the University Ranking by Academic Performance, but the upper tiers of those rankings are also increasingly crowded with Chinese universities. [ Notably, one ranking that still looks favorably on American universities is Chinese.]

It's tempting to conclude, as one observer recently told The Times, that there's '' a big shift coming, a bit of a new world order in global dominance of higher education and research.''

I disagree. Its true that Chinese universities have made remarkable progress and strides, and some of them host superb centers of research and education.

However, they aren't nearly as dominant as those rankings suggest.

To borrow a phrase from Mao Zedong, many Chinese universities are paper tigers : They churn out papers at a ferocious pace, but the quality of these publications is too in question.

American universities will remain the front-runners in the race that truly matters - attracting the most brilliant minds - unless our government continues to withdraw the support needed to produce world-leading research.

SO, '' Don't trust rankings that put China's schools on top.''

This Master Publishing continues. The World Students Society thanks Professor Ariel Procaccia.