World University Rankings 2016-2017
Rankings are not everything. But, the world university rankings do provide significant information about the standard of a particular university. When it comes to study abroad, almost all international students look up the world university rankings to compare the universities against each other. But, which ranking system is the best; and which league table you should refer to?
According to the recently published Times Higher Education (THE) World University Ranking, University of Oxford is the No. 1 University in the world for 2016-17. But, last month QS ranking put MIT on the top of the table for 2016-2017. Before that, Harvard University got the coveted position of being the No. 1 University in the Shanghai Ranking, also known as Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU).
So, which of the three ranking systems is the most reliable one, and which ranking table should be referred by the international students? You need to understand that those three most popular ranking tables have got different methodologies. Nevertheless, a standardized ranking table would be quite useful. Here we have listed Top 50 Universities in the World after referring to all the three popular ranking tables.
Top 50 Universities in the World
|
CUMULATIVE
World Rank
|
University
|
Country
|
QS Rank
|
THE Rank
|
ARWU Rank
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Stanford University | USA | 2 | 3 | 2 |
| 2 | University of Cambridge | UK | 4 | 4 | 4 |
| 3 | Harvard University | USA | 3 | 6 | 1 |
| 4 | Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) | USA | 1 | 5 | 5 |
| 5 | University of Oxford | UK | 6 | 1 | 7 |
| 6 | California Institute of Technology (Caltech) | USA | 5 | 2 | 8 |
| 7 | Princeton University | USA | 11 | 7 | 6 |
| 8 | University of Chicago | USA | 10 | 10 | 10 |
| 9 | ETH Zurich | Switzerland | 8 | 9 | 19 |
| 10 | Yale University | USA | 15 | 12 | 11 |
| 11 | University College London (UCL) | UK | 7 | 15 | 17 |
| 11 | Imperial College London | UK | 9 | 8 | 22 |
| 12 | University of California, Berkeley | USA | 28 | 10 | 3 |
| 13 | University of Pennsylvania | USA | 18 | 13 | 18 |
| 14 | Columbia University | USA | 20 | 16 | 9 |
| 15 | Cornell University | USA | 16 | 19 | 13 |
| 16 | Johns Hopkins University | USA | 17 | 17 | 16 |
| 17 | University of California, Los Angeles | USA | 31 | 14 | 12 |
| 18 | Duke University | USA | 24 | 18 | 25 |
| 18 | University of Michigan | USA | 23 | 21 | 23 |
| 19 | Northwestern University | USA | 26 | 20 | 26 |
| 20 | University of Toronto | Canada | 32 | 22 | 27 |
| 21 | University of Edinburgh | UK | 19 | 27 | 41 |
| 22 | University of Tokyo | Japan | 34 | 39 | 20 |
| 23 | University of California, San Diego | USA | 40 | 41 | 14 |
| 24 | University of Melbourne | Australia | 42 | 33 | 40 |
| 25 | McGill University | Canada | 30 | 42 | 36 |
| 26 | University of Washington | USA | 59 | 25 | 15 |
| 27 | King’s College London | UK | 21 | 36 | 50 |
| 27 | New York University (NYU) | USA | 46 | 32 | 29 |
| 28 | University of British Columbia | Canada | 45 | 36 | 34 |
| 29 | University of Manchester | UK | 29 | 55 | 35 |
| 29 | National University of Singapore | Singapore | 12 | 24 | 83 |
| 30 | Tsinghua University | China | 24 | 35 | 58 |
| 31 | University of Wisconsin – Madison | USA | 53 | 45 | 28 |
| 32 | Carnegie Mellon University | USA | 58 | 23 | 68 |
| 33 | Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne (EPFL) | Switzerland | 14 | 30 | 92 |
| 34 | Peking University | China | 39 | 29 | 71 |
| 35 | Australian National University (ANU) | Australia | 22 | 47 | 77 |
| 36 | LMU Munich | Germany | 68 | 30 | 51 |
| 37 | TU Munich | Germany | 60 | 46 | 47 |
| 38 | Kyoto University | Japan | 37 | 91 | 32 |
| 39 | Heidelberg University | Germany | 72 | 43 | 47 |
| 40 | Ecole Normale Superieure – Paris | France | 33 | 66 | 87 |
| 41 | University of Sydney | Australia | 46 | 60 | 82 |
| 42 | Brown University | USA | 49 | 51 | 90 |
| 43 | Georgia Institute of Technology | USA | 71 | 33 | 93 |
| 44 | University of California, Davis | USA | 85 | 51 | 75 |
| 45 | KU Leuven | Belgium | 79 | 40 | 93 |
| 46 | Monash University | Australia | 79 | 74 | 65 |
| 47 | Purdue University | USA | 92 | 70 | 63 |
| 48 | Boston University | USA | 89 | 64 | 75 |
| 49 | Pennsylvania State University | USA | 95 | 68 | 77 |
| 50 | Rice University | USA | 90 | 87 | 72 |
| 50 | Uppsala University | Sweden | 98 | 93 | 60 |
If you look at all the three ranking tables, there are few clear trends. The Asian universities are continuing to rise. There are total 19 universities within the Top 200. The US universities have maintained their dominance. The UK universities are lagging behind in the ranking tables and are struggling due to certain economic (lack of research funding, especially for Non-EU students) and political factors (e.g. Brexit). The European universities have got a mixed picture. Germany and Netherlands are doing really good. The top 200 universities include 9 German and 13 Dutch universities. But, France, Italy, Finland and Denmark have struggled.