The World's Best Universities

College Search & Selection
1

On September 26, 2018, Forbes published a list of The World’s Best Universities based on scholarship, research funding & reputation. The focus was on what universities do for society and the economy, number of doctorates awarded, AND the extent to which top scholars teach and mentor undergraduates.

Among the top 50 ranked universities are 24 US universities including six of the eight Ivy League schools, four Pac 12 universities (Stanford, Berkeley, UCLA & Univ. of Washington) & four Big Ten universities (Michigan, Northwestern, Wisconsin & Illinois).

The Top 50 ranked universities are:

  1. Oxford

  2. Cambridge

  3. Stanford

  4. MIT

  5. Caltech

  6. Harvard

  7. Princeton

  8. Yale

  9. Imperial College of London

  10. University of Chicago

11)ETH Zurich

  1. Johns Hopkins University

  2. University of Pennsylvania

  3. UCL

  4. UCal-Berkeley

  5. Columbia

  6. UCLA

  7. Duke

  8. Cornell

  9. Michigan

  10. University of Toronto

  11. Tsinghua University

  12. National University of Singapore

  13. Carnegie Mellon University

  14. Northwestern University

  15. London School of Economics & Political Science (LSE)

  16. NYU

  17. University of Washington

  18. Univ. of Edinburgh

  19. UC-San Diego

  20. Peking University

  21. LMU Munich

  22. University of Melbourne (second most livable city in the world behind Vienna, Austria according to a recent ranking)

  23. Georgia Tech

  24. Ecole Polytech (Switzerland)

  25. University of Honk Kong

  26. University of British Columbia

  27. King’s College (London)

  28. University of Texas

  29. Karolinska Institute (Sweden)

  30. Paris Sciences & Letters

  31. University of Tokyo

  32. University of Wisconsin

  33. McGill University

  34. Technical Univ. of Munich

  35. Hong Kong University of Science & Technology

  36. Heidelberg University

  37. KU Lev.

  38. Australian National University

  39. University of Illinois

2

It is always interesting how much better state flagships do in world rankings. Wisconsin’s ranking is higher here than in the US News US only rankings.

3

@Eeyore123

Not surprising given a very different set of methodologies. World rankings are largely based on research where state flagship institutions do well whereas USNWR’s undergrad ranking isn’t based on research. Those institutions that emphasize and direct their resources to undergrad education don’t do well in world rankings and hence not a single LAC on top 50 listed above (probably not even in top 100).

4

These rankings are based on three main factors which include the EXTENT TO WHICH TOP SCHOLARS TEACH AND MENTOR UNDERGRADUATES.

5

@Publisher

And how much do they weigh “top scholars teach and mentor undergraduates” in comparison to other metrics?

6

Silly question, but what is “KU Lev”? I’m familiar with all the other schools on the list, or can see where they are from the name. (My first thought was Kansas University, Leavenworth …which I’m guessing is not right)

7

@Otterma It is KU Leuven in Belgium.

8

This is actually the Times Higher Education (THE) list which was published in Forbes. The methodology is easily found on their website. As suggested above, their methodology is very different from USNWR or even Forbes’ own list, which both reward a focus on undergraduates. By contrast, this ranking weights research 30%, citations 30%, teaching 30% (but within this category, 2.5% for ratio of PhD students to bachelors), international outlook 7.5%, and industry income/knowledge transfer 2.5%. So over 60% of the score is based on research activities. Clearly there is a huge advantage given to large universities with an emphasis on graduate students, while LACs or Ivies like Brown and Dartmouth don’t have a chance of scoring highly.

Look, the publication is based in London. It’s no accident that Oxford and Cambridge are at the top - boosted there, no doubt, by the “international outlook” edge. I’ll bet they tinkered with the parameters until they made that happen. Can we all agree that rankings are ridiculous?

9

^^ Yes

10

It’s more complex than that, I think.

For example, Princeton (#7) and Brown (#53) fare very differently on this ranking, but both have around 2500 PhD students. The main difference is that Brown has about 1400 more undergrads and ~560 medical students, whereas Princeton has no professional schools except Woodrow Wilson.

Princeton: 5260 undergrads, 2845 graduate students (2512 PhD students)
Brown: 6653 undergrads, 3113 graduate students (2546 PhD students and 567 medical students)

11

Any ranking that has Wisconsin > Illinois has some value. It doesn’t matter the topic.

12

From a US perspective, looks pretty good to me.

13

From a Canadian perspective it doesn’t. It’s always the same 3 regardless of what methodology is being employed: U of T, UBC, McGill. Surprise surprise. None of those schools are known for teaching undergraduates. It’s all about the research and grad programs. DS19 will be applying to universities in the next few months and none of those schools are on his list. I know they are popular with international students (and domestic students as well), in large part because of their rankings, but I’m not a fan for undergraduate education.

14

Agreed, @gwnorth - Mount Allison all the way!

15

@riley2: You noted that the Times Higher Education (THE), which published this list, is located in London, England, and that, therefore, Oxford & Cambridge were certain to be at the top of this ranking.

It is interesting to note that English colleges & universities were well represented in this list of The World’s Best Universities.

  1. Oxford

  2. Cambridge

  3. Imperial College of London

  4. University College of London

  5. London School of Economics & Political Science (LSE)

For those interested in studying abroad at an English speaking institution, it may prompt research into the offerings at Imperial College of London, Univ. College of London & well known LSE.

Also worthy to note that while the University of Edinburgh was listed at #29, University of St. Andrews did not make the list’s top 50 schools.

16

@marvin100 I just wish we had academically selective schools like the top 3 but more the size of Mount A silimlar to the SLAC’s in the U.S., ones primarily dedicated to undergraduate education. DS19 is not looking to go out of province to school and the similarly sized schools in Ontario are not particularly selective (not to mention that a number of them are very far north). The schools he is considering are all still very large, but smaller than U of T, with smaller more centralized campuses and just as academically selective. The smallest of them however is Queen’s and they still have an entering class size of 4,300 students and a total undergrad population of close to 20,000 students.

17

Makes sense, @gwnorth . I only mentioned Mount A because I have a friend who went there, speaks highly of the experience, and is incredibly well educated and intellectually alive.

18

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19

The trick with the large Canadian schools is to get into a smaller faculty/school. S1 is at Desautels (McGill business school), and doesn’t find it at all overwhelming. He loves it, in fact. Being a undergrad Arts student at a place like U of T can be overwhelming till you find your specialized area of interest, which often isn’t till junior year.

I have two nieces that went to Mount A. Both loved it, and thrived there. It is not for everyone, though. For someone like my son, and nephews, it would be hell.

McGill, UBC, and U of T are really good to great schools in locations that range from good to spectacular. Walking on the beaches around UBC in between classes? Having a dorm halfway up Mount Royal with a great view of Montreal? Chowing down at the incredibly diverse restaurants that surround U of T? Sounds pretty good to me, all while getting a world class education, and at a fraction of the cost that Americans pay.

Went on a tour of Waterloo(S2 is a CS/Math type). Much less of an urban environment, but still has plenty of amenities. Unfortunately the CS is next to impossible to get into. Has something like a 4% admit rate.
Western also has a great business school.
Queens is a very good traditional Uni.
McMaster is very good for some things. Excellent for clinical Medicine. Again, a more benign, low pressure, small city environment.

There are some great choices for small schools down in the US. Carleton, near me is wonderful. You’re kidding yourself if you think that it doesn’t come at a cost premium, though.

20

@gwnorth Unfortunately “small” is not valued in Canadian higher education. I don’t know if that is due to Canadian/provincial financing formulas or just Canadian culture. The lack of a private sector in Canadian higher education may be a reason.

There are major research universities in the US with about 10,000 students: MIT, Case Western, Tufts etc. plus all the selective LAC’s. Nothing like that exists in Canada.