London, (EFE).- Four of the five best universities Around the world, Oxford, Harvard, Cambridge and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) will be led before next July, for the first time, by women.
This is indicated by the 2023 ranking of the best universities of the Times on the occasion of the International Women’s Day the next day 8.
According to this information, almost a quarter, 48 of the top 200 universities in the world, have female presidents or vice presidents, which is an increase compared to the 43 registered last year.
That increase has been driven by appointments made in the United States and Germany, while there are 12% more women in these senior positions than in 2022 and 41% more than five years ago.
The British Oxford, first in the ranking, is currently led by Irene Tracey; Claudine Gay, at Harvard (second) and Deborah Prentice, at Cambridge (ranked third) will take over this July while Sally Kornbluth currently leads MIT.
According to this, the United States has a high proportion of universities within the top 200 in the world led by women, with 16 out of 58. Also France -with 3 out of 5-, the Netherlands -5 out of 10) and the United Kingdom -8 out of 28-.
Last year, 13 of the best American universities were run by women. The eighth best in the world, the University of Berkeley (California), is directed by Carol Christ, who has held that position since July 2017, while the prestigious University of Pennsylvania, Cornell and Bronw, have Elizabeth Magill, Martha Pollack and Christina Paxson leading, respectively.
In Germany, five higher education institutions have women in their leadership positions, 3 more than last year. Among them, the one in Tubingen, with Karla Pollmann, the one in Freiburg, with Kerstin Krieglstein, and the Technical University of Berlin, with Geraldine Rauch.
In Asia, neuroscientist Nancy Ip was named president of the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, becoming the region’s first female leader from a university ranked in the world’s top 200 in the past five years.
Hana Abdullah Al-Nuaim is the interim head of the largest university in Saudi Arabia, King Abdulaziz University.
Rosa Ellis, director of rankings for the Times Higher Education, called it “incredible to see that four of the first five universities in the world will soon be led by women.”
But he added that “it’s a shame there’s a ‘but’, only 24% of the top 200 universities are led by women.”
“Although progress is being made, universities, which are the banner of learning, knowledge and human progress in the world, have to do much more to advance the roles of women not only in the best universities but in all positions,” he pointed.
