US metrics based on research programs for how good a university is don't apply to Europe. Comparisons based on those are worthless and the fact it is still being done frequently can be attributed to either incompetence or malice.

Yes, it's so obviously a completely ridiculous metric that it has to be willful at this point. It doesn't seem like anyone tries to measure how well educated the undergraduates are in terms of skills acquired, etc, by how many papers a totally different population occupying a similar space pump out instead.

It shouldn't need to be said, but no amount of Nobel prizes in the world is going to make one whit of difference for introductory calculus instruction. When the prime research centers are decoupled from the universities and these silly little metrics, it's no wonder that European universities are "bad."