<p>is there a ranking of the best european colleges? (kind of like the USNEWS thingy here). if so, where can i find it?</p>
<p>I don't think that anyone should take those rankings seriously.</p>
<p>Why not? Are they completely wrong?</p>
<p>The Times is a lot more explicit about how they actually come up with the numbers...</p>
<p>As a Eurpean I have to say that the only outstanding European universities I have heard of are Oxbridge. Most others seem to be relatively on par with each other, at least concerning undergraduate education (not necessarily research).</p>
<p>In France (I can only speak for my country), there are some very good schools but it is almost impossible to get in if you are not already fluent in french. Schools such as Polytechnique, Ecole normale superieure, Ecole des mines et des ponts (engineering) and Sciences Po (politics) are well-known.
It's a different system in France so those schools are kind of like a mix between graduate and undergraduate colleges... But they are definitely very good schools.</p>
<p>I know the grandes ecoles. They are really good, with top people. However, the major problem I see with them is their lack of internationality. Graduates will flourish in French government, but will find it rather hard to get recognized abroad. France has always been special and wanted to stay on their own (better have a strong France than a strong Europe). I think that this is the wrong way to go when it comes to unis at least.</p>
<p>I don't know. Renault/Nissan's CEO is a product of the French system of education and he is doing fine in the corporate world.</p>
<p>there are flaws with The Times also..
some say they are bias to the English system.
<a href="http://www.berkeley.edu/news/media/releases/2004/12/10_numberone.shtml%5B/url%5D">http://www.berkeley.edu/news/media/releases/2004/12/10_numberone.shtml</a></p>
<p>no ranking is perfect, maybe thats why Canadian decide to let U create your own system of ranking in Macleans.</p>
<p>How do you rank a school exclusively dealing with medicine and life sciences against a school dealing mostly with literature and languages?</p>
<p>Apparently, according to the above rankings, it is easily done. Ecole Normale Superior on the same ranking list as Karolinska Institutet. The various European education systems are to different to rank against each other - give the Bologna process 15-20 years, and then we can start looking at coherent rankings.</p>
<p>most international guides give quite a weird view on UK unis.</p>
<p>here is how they are generally rated in UK (i put them in Tiers meaning that going to a uni from one tier wont put you at an advantage from someone in the same tier)</p>
<p>Oxford/Cambridge
LSE/Imperial
Warwick/UCL
Nottingham/Bristol
Durham/Bath/York/Edinburgh
Manchester/KCL/SOAS (but this one is very specialised IMO)</p>
<p>then you have places such as Leeds, Sheffield, Southhampton, Queen Marys, Royal Halloway etc.</p>
<p>ps the list in the 2nd post (website) is one of the most ridiculous ratings of Unis ive ever seen...LSE is one of the best in the world...and places such as Glasgow, Sheffield, and Aberdeen being better than york, durham and warwick is ridiculous.</p>