Harvard, MIT, Cambridge, Berkeley & Stanford are the top 5 in the world

<p>according to the latest survey, released today, of THE WORLD UNIVERSITY RANKINGS by THE TIMES <a href="http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/Journals/THE/THE/10_March_2011/attachments/THE%20World%20Reputation%20Rankings%20top%2050%20.pdf%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/Journals/THE/THE/10_March_2011/attachments/THE%20World%20Reputation%20Rankings%20top%2050%20.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>Times</a> Higher Education - Times Higher Education World Reputation Rankings</p>

<p>1 1 Harvard University US 100.0 100.0 100.0
2 3 Massachusetts Institute of Technology US 88.4 78.1 85.0
3 =6 University of Cambridge UK 80.1 81.9 80.7
4 8 University of California, Berkeley US 78.7 66.7 74.7
5 4 Stanford University US 74.2 66.1 71.5</p>

<p>6 =6 University of Oxford UK 66.1 73.6 68.6
7 5 Princeton University US 37.5 34.8 36.6
8 26 University of Tokyo Japan 34.5 30.7 33.2
9 10 Yale University US 28.0 29.0 28.3
10 2 California Institute of Technology US 24.8 21.0 23.5</p>

<p>11 9 Imperial College London UK 22.9 22.0 22.6
12 11 University of California, Los Angeles US 24.2 18.9 22.4
13 =15 University of Michigan US 21.0 17.4 19.8
14 13 Johns Hopkins University US 19.9 18.3 19.4
15 12 University of Chicago US 19.9 13.5 17.8</p>

<p>16 14 Cornell University US 17.7 16.9 17.5
17 17 University of Toronto Canada 17.3 16.5 17.0
18 57 Kyoto University Japan 16.3 13.9 15.5
=19 22 University College London UK 14.7 13.2 14.2
=19 56 University of Massachusetts US 14.4 14.0 14.2</p>

<p>*As universities do not have stock, there is no value for market capitalisation. However, says Freeland-Small, if we understand from commercial companies that branding, on average, adds a value to their stock equal to roughly half the value of their tangible assets, it is possible to reach a crude approximation of university brand values.</p>

<p>Using this formula, based on net assets in 2009-10, this gives Harvard’s brand a value of $15.85 billion, Stanford University $10.69 billion, MIT $5.16 billion, the University of California, Berkeley $2.32 billion, the University of Cambridge $1.97 billion, and the University of Oxford $1.47 million.*</p>

<p><a href=“http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/Journals/THE/THE/10_March_2011/attachments/Brand%20focus.pdf[/url]”>http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/Journals/THE/THE/10_March_2011/attachments/Brand%20focus.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p><a href=“http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/Journals/THE/THE/10_March_2011/attachments/THE%20World%20Reputation%20Rankings%20top%2050%20.pdf[/url]”>http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/Journals/THE/THE/10_March_2011/attachments/THE%20World%20Reputation%20Rankings%20top%2050%20.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>there seems to be 2 separate rankings on the table, shown in the first and second columns:</p>

<p>“Reputation Rank”</p>

<p>and</p>

<p>“World University Rankings Position”</p>

<p>at first I thought that it was this years and last years for the same category, but it appears not to be the case.</p>

<p>I doubt this ranking is credible. Don’t get me wrong, my school does well…but you know there’s something wrong with this ranking if most of the Ivies aren’t present at the top 15 or so. I refuse to believe UCSD is better than Dartmouth.</p>

<p>^This is an international reputation ranking.</p>

<p>Rankings from a number of different international sources yield similar results and there is nothing particularly notable or out of the ordinary with this ranking.</p>

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</p>

<p>You have it exactly backwards. This is an international research-based ranking. It would be hilarious if Dartmouth even appeared in the top 100. UCSD beating Dartmouth (by a wide, wide margin) is a no-brainer.</p>

<p>True. Despite all of Dartmouth 's prestige, it’s not that well know internationally, while UCSD is a fine research university. Still, Tokyo as number ?! I know, it’s the uber-university of Japan, but this supposed to be an international ranking, and I doubt that Tokyo have this credibiiliy…</p>

<p>^ A lot of Asians would break an arm just to get into Tokyo U. It may not be as familiar to you as it is to many Asians, but it really is a great school with top teaching and research quality.</p>

<p>MrPrince, yes; this ranking isn’t credible for you because Berkeley made it in the top 5. LOL… Actually, for you, MrPrince, any ranking where Berkeley is in the top 10 isn’t credible, because for you, any government-funded school is not prestigious. LOL…</p>

<p>A weird thing about this survey is how sharp the drop-off is. In the new, “Reputation” ranking, Princeton at #7 is barely over a third of Harvard’s top score, and Michigan at #13 is under a fifth of the top score. By the time they get above 50, there is no meaningful way to differentiate schools except in bands, and scores are under 6% of the maximum.</p>

<p>By contrast, in the same publisher’s “World University Rankings”, Princeton (at #5) is within 2% of Harvard’s top score, and Michigan (at #15) has 87% of Harvard’s score. The #13 score is 90% of the top score, and the #50 score is 69%.</p>

<p>My reaction is that somehow the methodology for the new survey doesn’t work – there just isn’t any basis for that kind of difference between the universities they are looking at.</p>

<p>The sharp drop off is not surprising at all. The reputation ranking is based on an opinion survey. The number of institutions that respondents could select as “the best” in their field was limited, hence the responses tend to cluster around a few elite universities. </p>

<p>Here’s the survey: <a href=“http://science.thomsonreuters.com/m/pdfs/GIP-ReputationSurvey.pdf[/url]”>http://science.thomsonreuters.com/m/pdfs/GIP-ReputationSurvey.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>RML: Ahhh, this makes sense, indeed.</p>

<p>Why is this in the graduate school thread? Rankings do not mean much in grad school at all…</p>

<p>anyone want to speculate on UMAss (#19); confusion with that ‘tech’ school with a similar state name?</p>

<p>Top five brand-values? But not education… “brand value” is presumably ranked by how much you make when you graduate which is much more likely to be determined by who you know, than what you know. That money is concentrated among a very small number of people, and that these people are not exactly giving it away through merit-based Google-advertised contests, it should not be surprising that “brand value” will stay pretty much in one place.</p>

<p>I do think rankings can be meaningful but applying “brand value” to institutions of higher education is silly. If Harvard is the best, it’s not because it educates rich people who know other rich people!</p>

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<p>Cold it be they confused it with Amherst College? Oh, my bad, I forgot that this is nothing else than graduate school ranking! My bad. ;)</p>

<p>This said the issue of “confusion” speaks volumes about the integrity and knowledge of the responders. Aren’t they supposed to be experts?</p>

<p>US and UK universities are good, no doubt. Canadian and Australian universities are usually over-ranked while Japanese, German, Swiss, and Hong Kong universities are usually under-ranked. Overall, I think these rankings give an edge to universities in English speaking countries.</p>

<p>

No, by the article’s comparing of universities to the likes of Coca-cola, Nike, and Pepsi, “brand value” appears to be how much consumer product you can sell.</p>

<p>For example, USC has capitalized on its “brand value” and sells a variety of sports apparel bearing the university’s name.</p>

<p>As far as being defined as a “good school”, many / most mildly reputable schools in the U.S. provide relatively equal quality of education. In fact, arguably some of the Ivies actually provide a lesser quality of education than non-Ivies because they may not even have professors teaching classes, less up-to-date material, etc. I would certainly say that as far as quality of education goes going to MIT will provide one MUCH more information that is up to date and cutting edge (stuff that only a tiny fraction of colleges even teach) versus Harvard. Don’t get me wrong, i’d LOVE to get into either school but there are some differences. The main Ivys (Princeton, Harvard, Yale and to some extent Columbia and Dartmouth) are so popular because of their NAME. you work your butt off to get into Harvard and get the job opportunities that diploma provides though your education, but it is probably equal / marginally better to that of a, say, Tulane graduate. In fact, im sure cal tech and other schools on the list are better education quality than Harvard / Yale but lack the same name status. The main 3 Ivys are also world famous because of their name and so receive a ton of applications from less-informed people who when they think “college” think “Harvard” and are unaware of its difficulty. This list is rather confusing, considering UToronto is actually a pretty bad school. The acceptance rate is over 50%, i think over 70%, and i visited but was not very impressed at all. I know alot of people in Canada and they all say that UToronto is not very well recognized… so thats interesting… who knows, it may provide a great quality of education. I do know though that top European colleges are MUCH more demanding and you learn more when attending one. In some you actually even earn your masters in 4 years! The difference there is that alot of the schools are technical schools (business, medicine, math, etc) and there are not very many good liberal arts schools in Europe. Im so sure that UTokyo is insanely rigorous and an education from there would put one on the cutting edge. The Chinese alone have more straight A students than the US has students… crazy right?! Not to be stereotypical, but their (Asians living in Asia )students are known for their great work ethic and overall determination to succeed, as are many European countries. Very interesting to compare colleges world wide… im sure no matter where everyone goes they will get a great education, for there is a perfect college for everyone. whatever floats your boat!</p>

<p>Rankings of universities=overrated.</p>