World University Rankings

World university rankings tables are a useful tool to get an idea of the academic reputation that UK universities have internationally. If you are planning to leave the UK after studying then it is obviously important that the university you choose is well respected not just within Britain, but also throughout the world.

There are a number of different world university ranking tables released each year and they can have quite different results. The three different tables below will give you an idea of the most highly respected universities in the world, but also how much each ranking system differs.

Times Higher Education 2011-12 World Universities Rankings

The Times Higher Education magazine is one of the most well known education authorities on higher education published in the UK. Each year, they produce some of the most respected British university rankings tables, as well as this global one. The rankings are based on a number of different factors, including the staff-to-student ratio, research income, PhDs awarded and the citation of research. It also rewards those with a high proportion of international staff and students, thus encouraging truly international universities. You can see the Top 20 World Universities below. For the complete tables, visit their site.

Rank	University	Country	Rank	University	Country
1	California Institute of Technology	USA	11	Yale University	USA
=2	Harvard University	USA	12	Columbia University	USA
=2	Stanford University	USA	13	University of California (LA)	USA
4	University of Oxford	UK	14	Johns Hopkins University	USA
5	Princeton University	USA	15	ETH Zurich	Switzerland
6	University of Cambridge	UK	16	University of Pennsylvania	USA
7	MIT	USA	17	University College London	UK
8	Imperial College London	UK	18	University of Michigan	USA
9	University of Chicago	USA	19	University of Toronto	Canada
10	Berkeley	USA	20	Cornell University	USA

ARWU 2010-11 World Universities Rankings

One of the most respected world university rankings tables is called the Academic Ranking of World Universities (or ARWU). They release a table each year that ranks the best universities in the world based on quality of education, quality of faculty, research output and academic performance per student. You can see the Top 20 World Universities below. For the complete tables, visit their site.

Rank	University	Country	Rank	University	Country
1	Harvard University	USA	11	Yale University	USA
2	Berkeley	USA	12	Cornell University	USA
3	Stanford University	USA	13	University of California (LA)	USA
4	MIT	USA	14	University of California (SD)	USA
5	University of Cambridge	UK	15	University of Pennsylvania	USA
6	California Institute of Technology	USA	16	University of Washington	USA
7	Princeton University	USA	17	University of Wisconsin	USA
8	Columbia University	USA	=18	Johns Hopkins University	USA
9	University of Chicago	USA	=18	University of California (SF)	USA
10	University of Oxford	UK	20	University of Tokyo	Japan

QS 2010-11 World Universities Rankings

Another rankings system that is also highly respected is done by a higher education company called 'QS'. They take into account a number of different factors to form a ranking each year. Below is a list of the top 20 world universities. However, to see the full list, visit the QS website.

KEY: S= Small, M= Medium, L= Large, XL= Extra Large, VH= Very High, FC= Fully Comprehensive, C= Comprehensive, FO= Focused

2011 Rank	2010 Rank	School Name	Country	Size	Research	Focus	2011 Score
1	1	University of Cambridge	United Kingdom	L	VH	FC	100.00
2	2	Harvard University	United States	L	VH	FC	99.3
3	5	MIT	United States	M	VH	CO	99.2
4	3	Yale University	United States	M	VH	FC	98.8
5	6	University of Oxford	United Kingdom	L	VH	FC	98.0
6	7	Imperial College London	United Kingdom	L	VH	FC	97.6
7	4	UCL	United Kingdom	L	VH	FC	97.3
8	8	University of Chicago	United States	M	VH	FC	96.1
9	12	University of Pennsylvania	United States	L	VH	FC	95.7
10	11	Columbia University	United States	L	VH	FC	95.3
11	13	Stanford University	United States	L	VH	FC	93.4
12	9	California Institute of Technology	United States	S	VH	CO	93.0
13	10	Princeton University	United States	M	VH	CO	91.9
14	15	University of Michigan	United States	XL	VH	FC	91.3
15	16	Cornell University	United States	L	VH	FC	90.7
16	17	Johns Hopkins University	United States	L	VH	FC	90.0
17	19	McGill University	Canada	L	VH	FC	89.6
18	18	ETH Zurich	Switzerland	L	VH	FO	89.5
19	14	Duke University	United States	L	VH	FC	89.3
20	22	University of Edinburgh	United Kingdom	L	VH	FC	87.8

World University Rankings

Times Higher Education 2011-12 World Universities Rankings

ARWU 2010-11 World Universities Rankings

QS 2010-11 World Universities Rankings

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