American dream fading? US universities plunge in world rankings while China takes top spot, ETEducation
Living the American dream has been on the bucket list for numerous individuals across the world. The journey, as it was known, began with taking the first step and enrolling in an esteemed American educational institution, which was renowned for being the best in the world. Followed by picking up jobs and slowly carving your own career and personal life in the country. Out of the many ways America exercised its soft power, educating the world’s best was at the top. However, with Trump’s relentless attacks on higher education and its institutions, it seems America might be on the verge of losing one of its most profitable economic sectors, education.
The fading American dream
A New York Times report recently cited the ratings compiled by the Middle East Technical University and they were shocking. While Harvard maintains the third position for academic performance, Stanford is now the only other American college to be in the top-ten list.
Who’s at the top? Chinese universities have been steadily gaining demand due to the volume and quality of research they produce. As per the Leiden Rankings, compiled by the Centre for Science and Technology Studies at Leiden University in the Netherlands, first in the list is Zhejiang University in China.
While Harvard still remains at the top for highly-cited scientific publications, there are seven other Chinese schools in the top 10.
Another list, Times Higher Education, compiled in Britain ranked Oxford University at the top with M.I.T., Princeton, University of Cambridge and Harvard along with Stanford in the top five.
However, further down the list, 62 American schools went lower in ranks than last year. Whereas, two Beijing schools, Peking University and Tsinghua University went from 42nd and 47th to 12th and 13th, respectively.
Some well-known American schools have dropped shockingly in rank. While Duke University fell from 20th to 28th, Emory University dropped from 85th to 102nd and Notre Dame from 108th to 194th.
Why the sudden loss?
This reordering comes after the Trump administration slashed millions in research funding to American schools that depended heavily on the federal government to fund their scientific endeavours.
While these policies did not start the decline, they could surely accelerate it, states the outlet. Rafael Reif, a former president of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, said on a podcast in 2025 that “the number of papers and the quality of the papers coming from China are outstanding” and are “dwarfing what we’re doing in the U.S.”
Added to the situation are travel bans and a nationwide deportation drive that have discouraged applications from the brightest minds across the globe. The number of international students arriving in the U.S. in August 2025 was 19 per cent lower than in 2024, hurting not only the prestige of American schools but also their profits.
China: The new America?
As per the outlet, China has been shedding billions of dollars into its universities and making them attractive for foreign researchers. In the fall of 2025, the country began offering visas to graduates of top universities in science and technology to visit to study or do business.
“The scientific and technological revolution is intertwined with the game between superpowers,” said President Xi Jinping in a 2024 speech, highlighting the administration’s focus on the education sector.
While globally China is already being considered America’s top contender in dominance, it seems lucrative fields like education must also be analysed.
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