Harvard University leads the way in the aggregated world university rankings that are dominated by American institutions, as compiled by University Guidance. MIT and Stanford complete the podium, followed by England’s ancient universities of Cambridge and Oxford.
UNIVERSITY GUIDANCE TOP TEN GLOBAL UNIVERSITIES
- Harvard University
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
- Stanford University
- University of Cambridge
- University of Oxford
- California institute of Technology (Caltech)
- Princeton University
- University of Chicago
- University of California, Berkeley
- Columbia University
Nearly two-thirds (25) of the world’s leading 40 universities are based in the United States, according to this new ranking, with 6 from the UK, 3 from Canada, 2 from Germany and 1 each from Australia, Belgium, Japan and Switzerland.
This table, produced by University Guidance, is an aggregate of each university’s position in the five leading global rankings, which are:
- Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU)
- Center for World University Rankings (CWUR)
- QS World University Rankings (QS)
- Times Higher Education World University Rankings (THE)
- US News Best Global University Rankings (USN)
Each ranking uses its own methodology – detailed on the individual websites – which explains why each varies to some degree or another. Having said that, the top 5 institutions in the aggregated table feature in each of the top 10s, so there is a level of consistency across the top end of each ranking.
Harvard achieves three 1st places, plus a 2nd and a 6th to take overall top spot with a score of 11. MIT and Stanford are tied with a score of 14 for 2nd, but MIT takes the runners-up spot as it achieved a 1st place whereas Stanford did not.
There are some US institutions – notably Berkeley and Columbia – that have lost places in the aggregated table due to their lower positioning by the two UK-based rankings, namely QS and THE, whereas European institutions Imperial College London and ETH Zürich do well with QS and THE – 8th and 9th respectively in each – when compared to their placings in the other three rankings.
Of course, as important as rankings are to the universities – particularly those who score well – they should always be used by students as just one part of the research process, rather than the only element for consideration.
Overall | ARWU | CWUR | QS | THE | USN | ||
1. | Harvard University | 11 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 6 | 1 |
2. | Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) | 14 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 5 | 2 |
3. | Stanford University | 14 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 4 |
4. | University of Cambridge | 22 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 6 |
5. | University of Oxford | 28 | 10 | 5 | 6 | 2 | 5 |
6. | California Institute of Technology (Caltech) | 32 | 7 | 12 | 5 | 1 | 7 |
7. | Princeton University | 46 | 6 | 9 | 11 | 7 | 13 |
8. | University of Chicago | 47 | 9 | 8 | 10 | 10 | 10 |
9. | University of California, Berkeley | 53 | 4 | 7 | 26 | 13 | 3 |
10. | Columbia University | 60 | 8 | 6 | 22 | 15 | 9 |
11. | Yale University | 63 | 11 | 11 | 15 | 12 | 14 |
12. | Johns Hopkins University | 71 | 16 | 16 | 16 | 11 | 12 |
13. | University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) | 78 | 12 | 15 | 27 | 16 | 8 |
14. | Cornell University | 79 | 13 | 10 | 17 | 18 | 21 |
15. | University of Pennsylvania (U.Penn) | 80 | 17 | 14 | 18 | 17 | 14 |
16. | ETH Zürich – Swiss Federal Institute of Technology | 85 | 20 | 20 | 9 | 9 | 27 |
17. | UCL | 88 | 18 | 27 | 7 | 14 | 22 |
18. | Imperial College London | 92 | 23 | 35 | 8 | 8 | 18 |
19. | University of Michigan – Ann Arbor | 109 | 22 | 19 | 30 | 21 | 17 |
20. | University of Toronto | 126 | 25 | 32 | 34 | 19 | 16 |
21. | Duke University | 128 | 31 | 28 | 29 | 20 | 20 |
22. | Northwestern University | 131 | 27 | 22 | 32 | 25 | 25 |
23. | University of California, San Diego | 137 | 14 | 21 | 44 | 39 | 19 |
24. | University of Tokyo | 147 | 21 | 13 | 39 | 43 | 31 |
25. | University of Washington – Seattle | 154 | 15 | 31 | 65 | 32 | 11 |
26. | New York University (NYU) | 162 | 27 | 18 | 53 | 30 | 34 |
27. | University of Wisconsin-Madison | 179 | 24 | 25 | 54 | 50 | 26 |
28. | University of Edinburgh | 184 | 47 | 55 | 21 | 24 | 37 |
29. | University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign | 200 | 29 | 33 | 59 | 36 | 43 |
30. | University of British Columbia | 219 | 40 | 62 | 50 | 34 | 33 |
31. | University of Texas at Austin | 220 | 37 | 30 | 77 | 46 | 30 |
32. | McGill University | 221 | 64 | 42 | 24 | 38 | 53 |
33. | University of Melbourne | 252 | 44 | 93 | 42 | 33 | 40 |
34. | King’s College London | 256 | 55 | 94 | 19 | 27 | 61 |
35. | Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg | 262 | 46 | 76 | 66 | 37 | 37 |
36. | Carnegie Mellon University | 277 | 61 | 61 | 62 | 22 | 71 |
37. | University of California, Davis | 278 | 57 | 53 | 85 | 44 | 39 |
38. | Ludwig Maximilians Universität Müchen | 288 | 52 | 79 | 75 | 29 | 53 |
39. | University of California, Santa Barbara | 294 | 38 | 64 | 129 | 39 | 24 |
40. | Katholieke Universiteit Leuven (KU Leuven) | 333 | 90 | 82 | 82 | 35 | 44 |