20 universities with the best student-to-staff ratio in the world

 

Most universities with the lowest number of students per staff in the medical field are in Japan, led by Nippon Medical School, according to THE.

Times Higher Education (THE) publishes a list of universities with the lowest student-to-staff ratio around mid-February each year, based on data collected when making world university rankings.

The lower this ratio, the more appreciated, because a low student-to-staff ratio gives learners the opportunity to build close relationships with faculty, get faster essay responses, participate in more seminars and interactions.

Medical schools top the list because they need to combine practical experience with theory and often employ more staff to support this teaching structure. Many universities have established affiliated hospitals and the staff of the hospital are also employees of the university, contributing to teaching and training. Some of the schools on the list have this low rate because they accept so few students each year.

Japan dominates the top 20 with 16 schools, led by Nippon Medical School - the country's first private medical university, founded in 1876. The student-to-staff ratio of the school stands at 0.9, ie. is less than one student per employee. Two other Japanese schools with the same ratio are the University of St Marianna Medical School and the Yikei University Medical School.

The remaining four universities in the top 20 are in the US, including Vanderbilt University - the only higher education institution in the top 20 that does not specialize in medical training. This is also a school with a large student population with more than 12,300 students.

All schools in the top 20 have no more than 3.2 students per staff member. Rankings are given in the table below:

Rank	University	Nation	Number of students per employee
1	Nippon Medical School	Japan	0,9
=1	St Marianna University Medical School	Japan	0,9
=1	Yikei University Medical School	Japan	0,9
4	Oregon Health and Science University	USA	1
5	Kansai Medical University	Japan	1,2
6	Dokkyo Medical University	Japan	1,3
7	Saitama Medical University	Japan	1,5
8	Tokyo Medical University	Japan	1,7
9	Showa University	Japan	1,9
10	University of Nebraska Medical Center	USA	2,1
11	Hyogo Medical University	Japan	2,2
12	Rush University	USA	2,3
=12	Kanazawa Medical University	Japan	2,3
14	University of Environmental Health and Occupational Health	Japan	2,5
15	Osaka Medical University	Japan	2,7
=15	Aichi Medical University	Japan	2,7
17	Vanderbilt University	USA	3
18	Shiga Medical University	Japan	3,1
19	Fujita Medical University	Japan	3,2
=19	Sapporo Medical University	Japan	3,2

THE World University Rankings is a poll of colleges and universities globally by Times Higher Education (UK). Together with Shanghai Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU) and Quacquarelli Symonds (QS), THE is considered one of the world's leading prestigious university rankings.

THE started implementing THE-QS World University Rankings in 2004, in cooperation with QS. Since 2010, THE ceased to cooperate with QS, created a new university ranking, cooperated with data provider Thomson Reuters.