<p>Methodology used peer review based on strength/effectiveness of teaching, research, and international reputation.</p>
<p>Worldwide Ranking:</p>
<li>Harvard</li>
<li>University of California at Berkeley</li>
<li>MIT</li>
<li>California Institute of Technology</li>
<li>Oxford</li>
<li>Cambridge</li>
<li>Stanford</li>
<li>Yale</li>
<li>Princeton</li>
<li>ETH Zurich</li>
</ol>
<p>US Ranking:</p>
<li>Harvard</li>
<li>University of California at Berkeley</li>
<li>MIT</li>
<li>California Institute of Technology</li>
<li>Stanford</li>
<li>Yale</li>
<li>Princeton</li>
<li>University of Chicago</li>
<li>UT Austin</li>
<li>Columbia</li>
<li>University of California at San Francisco</li>
<li>Cornell</li>
<li>University of California at San Diego</li>
<li>John Hopkins</li>
<li>University of California at Los Angeles</li>
<li>University of Pennsylvania</li>
<li>University of Michigan</li>
<li>University of Illinois</li>
<li>Carnegie Mellon</li>
<li>University of Massachusetts</li>
<li>Duke</li>
<li>Purdue University</li>
<li>Brown</li>
<li>Georgia Institute of Technology</li>
<li>University of Wisconsin</li>
</ol>
<p>Please criticize the methodology, not the results. The US News methodology has a lot of flaws, one being that UC's would have a 30-50 higher SAT median score if uniform standards were used. </p>
<p>Also, this methodology is dependent on peer review of academics, faculty/student ratio, etc... It is also probably the most respected ranking methodology comparing universities on a worldwide scale. The result being that non US universities are catching up fast, and its time to focus on academic excellence rather than defending stagnancy if we are to maintain our hegemony on higher education.</p>
<p>The Times also published a separate world ranking for the top 100 ENGINEERING AND IT schools. Since I'm posting from the Carnegie Mellon forum, it is worth noting that in the engineering and IT ranking, CMU came 14th in the world an 6th in the US, behind only UC Berkeley, MIT, Stanford, Caltech and, surprisingly, according to the London Times, Harvard !</p>
<p>My experience, as an international student who did his undergraduate studies overseas and later came to the US for graduate school, is that schools/universities cannot be directly compared on a worldwide scale due to the differences in the structure and philosophy of the university system in each country. </p>
<p>Generally speaking, talking about engineering specifically, my impression is that US schools are considerably weaker in the basic sciences (Math and Physics) portion of the curriculum when compared to their counterparts in France, Germany and, to a lesser extent, England. American schools, however, seem to have an advantage in the more technology-oriented (e.g. design) classes. In other words, engineering training in Europe tends to be IMHO more theoretical/conceptual in nature, whereas in the US, job-market-driven practical training appears to be more emphasized. </p>
<p>The biggest difference though is not so much in the curriculum, but rather in the way student progress is assessed. In the US, there is a system (which I personally prefer) of continuous assessment of student progress through compulsory class attendance, homeworks, quizzes, midterms, and final exams, with grades being assigned to each class the student takes every semester. By contrast, a student's performance in Europe is measured mostly by a set of comprehensive exams that are usually taken on an annual basis, at the end of a given module (or "part") of a given degree course. Those "module papers" or "diplom exams", combined with a minimum number of industrial internship/lab work/practical training hours and, perhaps, with a graduation thesis, form then the overall requirements the student must fulfill to get his/her degree. Generally speaking, the American system is more "supervised"
with greater feedback to the student and greater opportunities to take remedial action if necessary. By contrast, the European system, particularly in Germany (not so much in England) is far more "unsupervised" and its effectiveness depends very much on the individual responsibility/maturity of the student .</p>