Types, Characteristics and Trends of World-Class Universities: An Empirical Study Based on Three Global University Rankings (2013—2016)

Based on the data of the three global university rankings (2013—2106), and using the multidimensional scaling analysis and clustering analysis, the types, features and development trends of the World-Class Universities are discovered. The findings in this article include: the World-Class universities can be divided into two types and four subtypes, and each of them respectively represents different characteristics of universities; the development trends show a steady pluralism and attach importance to scientific research and different development trends; the education and teaching quality is the key core and bottleneck of World-Class Universities, especially when they are ready to achieve the transformation of development. The "double top construction" in China should pay more attention to the quality of education, never neglecting the nature of university education, and should avoid the unhealthy tendencies of giving far more priority to scientific research rather than to teaching in pursuit of rankings.