> the US has undoubtedly the best higher education system in the world
I doubt that, as do the times higher education rankings on all but perceived reputation - i.e. US universities are more "famous" in that when scholars were asked to name 15 good universities, they often included US ones.
Although some US universities are highly rated, and mostly in the top 10 for certain metrics and subject matter, they certainly are not "undoubtedly the best".
Thats not to say they are bad, but clearly your judgement is clouded.
> as do the times higher education rankings on all but perceived reputation
The rankings are literally perceived reputation. All you need to do is look at where people want to go to university. And that is overwhelmingly in the US.
If you want to find out which higher education system is the best—as opposed to the most popular—, asking people who haven't even studied there is a terrible idea.
The education space is full of scams using perceived reputation to prey on students who don't know better. The US even set up a fake university without classes https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_Farmington and people still signed up because they couldn't tell the difference.
If you want to evaluate education quality, look at people who've gone through the system and how they're doing afterwards.
The rankings are made by people (employers, academics) who often went to those same universities. I suspect what's happening in China is invisible to many of them.
> All you need to do is look at where people want to go to university
Thats not what they are doing. They are asking people that have already been to university to name 15 universities that they consider good universities. They dont have to have attended them, they dont even rank them 1-15, they just name 15. Im assuming you can see the flaw with that model - a university that EVERYONE considers 15th would rank higher than one that 99% thought was the best and 1% didnt mention.
They also have rankings based on other metrics. And even in those where the metrics are still weighted 50% with the reputation survey the US is often not even in the top 10. I think you can draw your own conclusions there.
Influential, yes. Best? Depends on which major. If you are into political science not related to American political scene, uSA easily ranked bottom few. If you are talking about economics, depend on which school. I know some organization will filter you out if you from Chicago school.
I doubt that, as do the times higher education rankings on all but perceived reputation - i.e. US universities are more "famous" in that when scholars were asked to name 15 good universities, they often included US ones.
Although some US universities are highly rated, and mostly in the top 10 for certain metrics and subject matter, they certainly are not "undoubtedly the best".
Thats not to say they are bad, but clearly your judgement is clouded.