Serbia¡¯s universities are the most effective in the world when countries¡¯ levels of economic development are taken into account, according to a new ranking of national higher education systems.

The Balkan country has overtaken the UK to take pole position in the Universitas 21 development-adjusted ranking for 2017, up from second in last year¡¯s table.?The US is ranked 15^th.

But Serbia is again ranked at just 39^th place in the overall top 50 ranking, which is based on systems¡¯ absolute performance. This table is topped by the US, followed by Switzerland, the UK and Denmark. ?

The Universitas 21 rankings are created by a global consortium of research universities to compare the performance of whole countries, as an alternative to other rankings that focus on individual institutions.

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The rankings are based on 25 separate variables, including the number and impact of research articles produced, university enrolment and graduate unemployment, a qualitative assessment of a country¡¯s policy environment, and spending on tertiary education as a proportion of GDP. ?

For the first time this year, the table also looks at the diversity of institutions in countries¡¯ university systems.

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Ross Williams, emeritus professor of econometrics at the University of Melbourne and lead author of the study, said the UK dropped one place in the development-adjusted ranking because its GDP per capita increased by 4 per cent between 2013 and 2014 ¨C the years analysed in the 2016 and 2017 tables ¨C while Serbia¡¯s income per head had ¡°barely moved¡±.

¡°This means that for the UK higher education sector to hold its ranking relative to Serbia it had to improve at a significantly higher rate than Serbia,¡± he said.?¡°Relative to other countries at similar levels of GDP per capita, such as Thailand, Serbia¡¯s research expenditure is high, as is its research output.¡±

He added that because the measures take population?into account, the ranking ¡°may favour small countries¡±.

Last year, Times Higher Education identified Serbia as one of seven nations collectively called ¡°the TACTICS¡± that could grow into star players in global higher education, on account of its GDP per head, student enrolment numbers and growth, research publication output and growth, and field-weighted citation impact.

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Elsewhere in the GDP-adjusted table, China has fallen from 5th?to 14th?owing to the growth in the country¡¯s economy and methodological changes in purchasing power parity adjustments, while South Africa has climbed four places to third because it has ¡°grown at a less than average rate in GDP per capita¡±, according to Professor Williams.?

Universitas 21 ranking 2017 top 10: main ranking

Universitas 21 ranking 2017 top 10: adjusted for average incomes

ellie.bothwell@timeshighereducation.com?