Getting ready to study abroad? You probably noticed choosing the right university can be challenging. Every year, various world university rankings are published. Picking a higher education institution abroad isn’t only about checking the list of world’s top universities. Nevertheless, rankings do help you find out how well renowned a university is. According to most rankings, the best universities in the world are in the United States or in the United Kingdom. Spotlight on international rankings and their criteria.
3 major world universities rankings
There are three famous world university rankings, which are published annually:
- the QS World University Rankings, which ranks 800 universities,
- the Times Higher Education World University Rankings, which compares 400 institutions,
- the Shanghai Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU), which compares the performances of 500 universities.
Methodologies vary and there sometimes are major differences from one ranking to another.
The world’s top 15 universities
Though the rankings are different, the same higher education institutions often appear in the world’s top 15 universities. And the winners are… the American universities!
QS World University Rankings
Rank |
University |
Country |
1 |
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) |
USA |
2 |
Harvard University |
USA |
3 |
University of Cambridge |
UK |
3 bis |
Stanford University |
USA |
5 |
California Institute of Technology |
USA |
6 |
University of Oxford |
UK |
7 |
UCL (University College London) |
UK |
8 |
Imperial College London |
UK |
9 |
ETH Zurich (Swiss Federal Institute of Technology) |
Switzerland |
10 |
University of Chicago |
USA |
11 |
Princeton University |
USA |
12 |
National University of Singapore (NUS) |
Singapore |
13 |
Nanyan Technological University (NTU) |
Singapore |
14 |
EPFL (Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne) |
Switzerland |
15 |
Yale University |
USA |
Times Higher Education World University Rankings
Rank |
University |
Country |
1 |
California Institute of Technology (Caltech) |
USA |
2 |
Harvard University |
USA |
3 |
University of Oxford |
UK |
4 |
Stanford University |
USA |
5 |
University of Cambridge |
UK |
6 |
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) |
USA |
7 |
Princeton University |
USA |
8 |
University of California, Berkeley |
USA |
9 |
Imperial College London |
UK |
9 bis |
Yale University |
USA |
11 |
University of Chicago |
USA |
12 |
University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) |
USA |
13 |
ETH Zurich (Swiss Federal Institute of Technology) |
Switzerland |
14 |
Columbia University |
USA |
15 |
John Hopkins University |
USA |
Shanghai Academic Ranking of World Universities
Rank |
University |
Country |
1 |
Harvard University |
USA |
2 |
Stanford University |
USA |
3 |
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) |
USA |
4 |
University of California, Berkeley |
USA |
5 |
University of Cambridge |
UK |
6 |
Princeton University |
USA |
7 |
California Institute of Technology |
USA |
8 |
Columbia University |
USA |
9 |
University of Chicago |
USA |
10 |
Oxford University |
UK |
11 |
Yale University |
USA |
12 |
University of California, Los Angeles |
USA |
13 |
Cornell University |
USA |
14 |
University of California, San Diego |
USA |
15 |
University of Washington |
USA |
University ranking criteria
Can one really compare institutions from all over the world when university systems vary widely from one country to another? International university rankings are sometimes criticized because of their possible lack of objectivity and completeness. To get ready to study abroad, use these rankings wisely! What are the criteria for comparing universities?
QS ranking criteria |
Times Higher Education ranking criteria |
ARWU ranking criteria |
Academic reputation |
Teaching: learning environment |
Quality of education |
Employer reputation |
Research: volume, income & reputation |
Quality of faculty |
Raculty/student ratio |
Citations: research influence |
Research output |
Citations per faculty |
Industry income: innovation |
Per capita performance |
International staff radio |
International outlook : staff, students & research |
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International student radio |
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To find out more about the world’s best universities:
Take a look at the full rankings: QS rankings, Times Higher Education rankings, ARWU.