How our universities rate. The Times Higher Education has just released its assessment of the reputation of the world’s universities and three Australian institutions have made the top 50.

  1. Harvard University, United States, 100
  2. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, United States, 87.2
  3. University of Cambridge, United Kingdom, 80.7
  4. Stanford University, United States, 72.1
  5. University of California Berkeley, United States, 71.6
  6. University of Oxford, United Kingdom, 71.2
  7. Princeton University, United States, 37.9
  8. University of Tokyo, Japan, 35.6
  9. University of California, Los Angeles, United States, 33.8
  10. Yale University, United States, 32.4
  11. California Institute of Technology ,United States, 29.6
  12. University of Michigan, United States, 23.2
  13. Imperial College, London, United Kingdom, 22.2
  14. University of Chicago, United States, 21
  15. Columbia University ,United States, 20.7
  16. Cornell University, United States, 20
  17. University of Toronto, Canada, 20
  18. Johns Hopkins University, United States, 17.8
  19. University of Pennsylvania, United States, 16.3
  20. Kyoto University, Japan, 15.9
  21. University College London, United Kingdom, 15.7
  22. ETH Zurich – Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Zurich, Switzerland, 15
  23. University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign, United States, 13.9
  24. National University of Singapore, Singapore, 13.9
  25. University of British Columbia, Canada, 11.8
  26. McGill University, Canada, 11.8
  27. University of Wisconsin-Madison, United States, 11.5
  28. University of Washington, United States, 11.3
  29. London School of Economics and Political Science, United Kingdom, 11.1
  30. Tsinghua University, China, 10.9
  31. University of California, San Francisco, United States, 10.4
  32. University of Texas at Austin, United States, 10.3
  33. Duke University, United States, 10.1
  34. New York University, United States, 9.8
  35. Northwestern University, United States, 9.6
  36. University of California, San Diego, United States 9.4
  37. Carnegie Mellon University, United States, 9.3
  38. Peking University, China, 8.9
  39. University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, 8.7
  40. University of Massachusetts, United States, 8.7
  41. Georgia Institute of Technology, United States, 8.5
  42. Ludwig-Maximilians-University, Munchen, Germany 8.4
  43. University of Melbourne, Australia, 8.1
  44. Australian National University, Australia, 7.4
  45. University of California, Davis, United States 7.4
  46. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, United States, 7.2
  47. University of Minnesota, United States, 7.1
  48. Purdue University, United States, 7.1
  49. University of Edinburgh, United Kingdom, 7
  50. University of Sydney, Australia, 6.9

Believing in the polls. Well the few early bird entrants in our Crikey Queensland election contests clearly believe in the accuracy of those opinion polls showing Liberal National Party leader Campbell Newman in danger of not winning the seat of Ashgrove. Nearly 80% are predicting a victory for Labor’s Kate Jones.

And there doesn’t seem to be much doubt that a Newman defeat will not stop an overall LNP victory. So far only five percent are predicting Labor being returned to office in its own right but another 15% expect independents and minor parties to decide which party governs.

Crikey is offering two ways to test your political skills with Queensland election contests.

For the really keen among you there is the long test — predict the result in every one of the 89 seats. And the less keen can try our short version where all that’s required is nominating the total number of seats each party will win along with the the winner of the seat of Ashgrove.

Both winners will be rewarded with a year’s subscription to the Crikey daily email. And if you are an existing subscriber (as surely keen political students are) we will not only extend your subscription by 12 months but send you one of our famed Crikey prize packs as well. First Dog might even draw a commemorative bragging rights scroll!

The competition rules are simple. Only one entry each please and you must include your name and email address. Yours truly will serve as the judge and sole selector with no correspondence entered into although First Dog has volunteered to serve as the Court of Disputed Returns.

And if you are thinking of waiting until the next opinion poll gives you a better guide than you have now then note this: in the event of a tie the entry received first will be the winner.

Hasten to the entry forms by clicking on the links below:

The long Queensland election test.
The short Queensland election test.

Meanwhile, Bob Katter’s Australian Party keep kicking goals