[scorecard]

It is not the case that free universities are necessarily 2nd tier. QS World Univerity rankings puts ETH Zurich, a free university, as #6 overall. Times Higher Education world ranking lists ETH Zurich as #13 overall.

The other Swiss flagship university, EPFL, which is also free, is ranked #14 overall in the QS world ranking.

https://www.topuniversities.com/university-rankings/world-un...

[tropdrop]

What is this ranking site (QS world)? Not to dismiss it outright, I'm just usually suspicious of any rankings aggregator of universities at this point.