LONDON, July 7, 2015 /PRNewswire/ --

Top 200 universities: http://www.TopUniversities.com

The QS University Rankings: BRICS , which compares the Top 200 institutions in Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, confirms China as the most likely of the BRICS nations to achieve its goal of developing world-class universities.

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The BRICS nations share a desire to grow in economic and political importance without copying the Western model of development. This ranking show how this ambition is being reflected in their university systems.

China claims seven of the top 10 places, ahead of Brazil, Russia and India with one apiece. Russia with 53 institutions in the top 200 is second only to China (67). Yet only seven Russian institutions make the top 50, fewer China (21), Brazil (10), and India (9).

QS University Rankings: BRICS 2015 - Top 10 universities

2015 2014 Institution Country 1 1 TSINGHUA UNIVERSITY CN 2 2 PEKING UNIVERSITY CN 3 5 FUDAN UNIVERSITY CN 4 3 LOMONOSOV MOSCOW STATE UNIVERSITY RU 5 - INDIAN INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE BANGALORE IN 6= 8 SHANGHAI JIAO TONG UNIVERSITY CN 6= 4 UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY OF CHINA CN 8 6 NANJING UNIVERSITY CN 9 7 UNIVERSIDADE DE SÃO PAULO (USP) BR 10 14 BEIJING NORMAL UNIVERSITY CN

© QS Quacquarelli Symonds 2004-2015 http://www.TopUniversities.com

A recent OECD report revealed that only the United States spends more on research and development than China. In 2012, China spent $294 billion, compared to the US figure of $454 billion. China is forecast to overtake the entire European Union and the US on this measure by the end of the decade, when it plans to devote 2.5 per cent of gross domestic product to research.

The Russian government has committed 10 billion rubles (US$300m) in grants to the top-performing universities. The Council on Global Competitiveness Enhancement of Russian Universities has been established to monitor progress.

India has ambitions to establish 14 world-class universities under the "brain gain" policy. The government has committed to set up five new prestigious IITs (Indian Institute of Technology), in addition to the existing 18.

South Africa has 5.5% cent the BRICS' top universities despite comprising only 1.7%of the population of the BRICS nations. In addition, eight of these 11 are in the top 100.

Ben Sowter, QS head of research says: "The BRICS have started to collaborate on accelerating the growth of their respective university systems. Since one in three students in the world today live in one of the BRICS countries, the impact will have global effects."

SOURCE QS Quacquarelli Symonds