Eight prestigious universities in Turkey have been listed prominently in the latest edition of an internationally recognized university ranking list.The Times Higher Education magazine published its annual BRICS & Emerging Economies Rankings list for 2015, which is an independent ranking of universities in Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa and 17 other emerging economies.Eight Turkish universities not only managed to be included on the list, but also bagged the number three spot.Last year, seven Turkish universities were included on the same list.The Ankara-based Middle East Technical University (ODTÜ) took third place on the 2015 list, making it the highest-ranked university in the developing world outside China.China's Peking University took the top place and another Chinese institution, Tsinghua University, came in second.Turkey's Boğaziçi University was ranked seventh, Istanbul Technical University eighth, Sabancı University at 15, Bilkent University at 19, Koç University at 29, Istanbul University at 51 and Hacettepe University was 82nd.Phil Baty, editor of the Times Higher Education magazine, praised Turkish universities' ranking On the list."Turkey is one of the strongest performers in this prestigious table and it has further strengthened its position this year, with not only the highest ranked university outside of China, but also the highest average rankings points score of any of the 18 nations in the rankings," Baty said."While Turkey's research scores have been boosted by some of its universities' involvement with the hugely influential research at the European Organization for Nuclear Research, this does not tell the full story. Major increases in research spending in Turkey over the past decade have had an impact, and increased competition in the allocation of university funding has also helped to drive up standards," he added.