<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>Berkeley was ranked very highly, number one in fact in peer review of faculty. Here is an excerpt from the ranking methodology group. </p>
<p>This listing of the most-esteemed
universities in the world, compiled on
the basis of a peer review of 1,300
academics and weighted by area and
subject, shows that old is beautiful.
The top two are Berkeley and Harvard in
the US the second a 17th-century
foundation and the first set up as the
Harvard of the West 200 years later and
they are followed by the medieval
foundations of Oxford and Cambridge.
More encouragingly, this analysis shows
that academics find excellence across the
world, with Japan and China joining the
UK and the US in the top ten. Singapores
National University comes in at 11 and the
next nine places go to universities from the
UK, the US, India, Australia and Japan.
The discipline balance achieved in this
analysis removes some of the bias in favour
of science and technology that is apparent in
our citations-based data, as well as eroding
the advantage the US enjoys in the citations
count. The California Institute of Technology,
substantial staff numbers, it performs less
well on citations per staff member than its
reputation might suggest. By contrast, the
California Institute of Technology, fourth in
the world overall, drops down to 11th on this
analysis despite its low student numbers.
This analysis shows that the most
student-oriented institutions vary widely
in attractiveness to overseas staff and
students. The Ecole Polytechnique
Fédérale de Lausanne, Switzerland, is top
at attracting foreign students, but it comes
in at joint 117th on the faculty-to-student
count. The top institution for overseas
students, the London School of Economics,
is 29th on this measure.
But despite the wide variety in
institutional behaviour this measure reveals,
it is notable that the worlds top university,
Harvard, is also prominent in this ranking,
where it appears in eighth place.
fourth in our overall rankings, plummets to
15th on this count, while ETH Zurich, tenth
in the world overall, falls to number 25. ETH
is a specialist science and technology
university and does not have a medical
school. An exception to this rule is the Indian
Institute of Technology, which is 18th in our
peer review but 41st in the world overall.
Peer review favours large universities with
a wide range of subject coverage. The
Massachusetts Institute of Technology is the
only specialist institution in the top ten, and
its agenda now runs far beyond technology.
Beijing, at number ten in this ranking,
has seen its reputation outside China rise
rapidly in recent years across a wide range
of subjects, including science and
technology. It is already widely regarded as
a substantial institution, and this reputation
may grow and be followed by success in
citations and by our other criteria in future
years. By the same token, Tokyo University,
like many other pillars of Japanese society,
is involved in a slow process of
modernisation in response to social and
economic change in Japan. Its prestige may
rise or fall in line with trends over which it
has little control.
Future analysis will show whether this
peer-review exercise predicts future success
or reflects past glory. Institutions such as
Harvard and Cambridge have enormous
financial advantages over their newer and
less prestigious rivals but can stay ahead of
the game only by reinventing themselves
continuously.</p>
<p>On the Princeton forum, I think it was, they cast some doubt onto the validity of these rankings. Anyone who's bored or wants some reason to ignore these should check it out. ;)</p>