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Top 10 Universities in the World 2024 - Students from the world over aspire to study at the top universities. They majorly focus on the world university rankings released by QS and Times Higher Education (THE) before selecting a college for pursuing a UG or a PG course. QS World University Rankings 2024 ranked 1500 institutions from 104 countries worldwide.
Among the top 10 universities in the world 2024, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, US has been ranked number one among the most prestigious universities in the world by QS World University Rankings 2024 for 12 years in a row. Further, the University of Cambridge and the University of Oxford have been ranked second and third position in the QS World University Rankings 2024 respectively. This article contains a list of the Top 10 universities in the world. Further, it lists the Top 10 IT Universities in the World and the 10 MBA best colleges in the world.
The following table lists the top ten universities in the world. Various ranking organizations rate top universities in the world depending on several parameters that are explained after the table. QS Rankings are considered by many aspirants when selecting among the top 10 uni in the world for their studies abroad.
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Name of the University | QS World University Ranking 2024 | THE World University Ranking 2024 |
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) | 1 | 3 |
University of Cambridge | 2 | 5 |
University of Oxford | 3 | 1 |
Harvard University | 4 | 4 |
Stanford University | 5 | 2 |
Imperial College London | 6 | 8 |
ETH Zurich | 7 | 11 |
National University of Singapore (NUS) | 8 | 19 |
UCL, London, United Kingdom | 9 | 22 |
University of California, Berkeley (UCB) | 10 | 9 |
Let us try to know some interesting facts about the top ten universities in the world. Getting admission to the top universities of the world is quite difficult. GPA requirements to get selected in these universities are of the highest level. Further, the student’s portfolio should also be dynamic and comprise achievements in extra-curricular activities as well. These universities provide a variety of courses such as engineering, medicine, MBA, Law, etc.
Massachusetts Institute of Technology is located in Cambridge, USA. It was founded in the year 1861 to accelerate USA’s industrial revolution. It has played an important role in the development of modern science and technology. MIT researchers are leaders in the developments in artificial intelligence, climate adaptation, HIV, cancer, and poverty alleviation. The close association of industry and research has helped MIT alumni go on to launch more than 30,000 active companies, creating 4.6 million jobs and generating roughly $1.9 trillion in annual revenue.
University of Cambridge is located in Cambridge, England. It is the 3rd oldest university in the world. It has contributed to society through education, learning, and research at the highest international level. Within this university free exchange of ideas is encouraged which has led to the creation of many new companies. The university campus has established science parks, providing facilities for start-ups, and making a significant contribution to the identification of Cambridge as a centre of innovation and technology.
The University of Oxford is located in Oxford, England. It was founded in the year 1096. It has more than 38 colleges, 26,000 students, and 70 research departments. Oxford has an alumni network of over 250,000 individuals, including more than 120 Olympic medalists, 26 Nobel Prize winners, seven poet laureates, and over 30 modern world leaders (including Bill Clinton, Aung San Suu Kyi, Indira Gandhi, and 26 UK Prime Ministers). Notable Oxford thinkers and scientists include Tim Berners-Lee, Stephen Hawking, and Richard Dawkins.
Harvard University was founded in 1636 and named after its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard. It is also home to the largest academic library system in the world, with 18 million volumes, 180,000 serial titles, nearly 400 million manuscript items, and 10 million photographs. The university’s grand endowment is such that it offers generous financial aid packages to nearly 60 percent of its students.
Located in Stanford, California Stanford University is a private research university. It is among the largest universities in the United States and enrolls more than 17,000 students. 20 alums of Stanford are noble laureates. Stanford’s campus houses a rich and diverse student life, with over 625 organized student groups. Stanford offers 36 varsity and 33 club sports and physical education academic classes. Its sports teams are attributed as the “Stanford Cardinal.”
Located in London, England Imperial College London (sometimes known simply as Imperial) is a public research university. In 1907, Imperial College London was established by royal charter, unifying the Royal College of Science, the Royal School of Mines, and the City and Guilds of London Institute. It solely focuses on science, engineering, medicine, and business. Students here get to join a community of world-class researchers. ICL is known for its cutting-edge and globally influential nature of this research. This university’s main focus is on the practical application of their research to address global challenges.
Located in Zürich, Switzerland ETH Zurich is a public research university. It was founded in 1854 by the Swiss federal government, with the stated mission to educate engineers and scientists. It was established in 1855 as the Swiss Federal Polytechnic School, and a century and a half later the university can count 22 Nobel laureates, 2 Fields Medalists, 3 Pritzker Prize winners, and 1 Turing Award winner as alumni, including the great Albert Einstein himself. This University is primarily focused on science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.
The National University of Singapore (NUS) is a national public research university in Singapore. It was founded in 1905 as a Government Medical School. It is the oldest autonomous university in Singapore. It comprises of 30 university-level research institutes and centres, and Research Centres of Excellence cover a wide range of themes including energy, environmental and urban sustainability; treatment and prevention of diseases common among Asians; active aging; advanced materials; risk management and resilience of financial systems.
Located in London, England UCL is a public research university. It is one of the members of the Federal University of London. It is the second-largest university in the United Kingdom in terms of total enrolment and the largest in terms of postgraduate enrolment. UCL is the university in London that is most targeted by graduate employers*, according to a report compiled by High Fliers Research in The Graduate Market in 2023.
The University of California, Berkeley is a public land-grant research university, located in Berkeley, California. Founded in 1868 as the University of California, it is California’s first land-grant university. It is the founding campus of the University of California system. This university’s alumni have founded more companies than any other university worldwide.
The alumni, faculty, and researchers of the University of California, Berkeley include 99 Nobel laureates, 23 Turing Award winners, and 14 Pulitzer Prize winners. The famous scientist J. R. Oppenheimer steered the Manhattan Project and created the first atomic bomb. Berkeley’s Nobel laureate Ernest Lawrence invented the cyclotron, using which UC Berkeley scientists and researchers discovered 16 chemical elements of the periodic table.
The various parameters on which these ranking engines rank the universities are:
academic or research performance, including alums and staff winning Nobel Prizes and Fields Medals
highly-cited international researchers, papers published in Nature and Science, papers indexed in major citation indices, and
Faculty/Student ratio, International faculty ratio, International student ratio
the per capita academic performance of an institution.
20% of the Ranking score is dependent on employability. It is divided into two parts: Employer Reputation: 15 %
Employment Outcomes: 5%
Sustainability: Students expect institutions to tackle issues related to social and climate justice.
The USA is the top country in the world in terms of the presence of the best higher education institutions. Many international students migrate to the USA for study purposes. One of the affordable options as compared to the USA is Canada. Canada has some of the premium universities in the world such as the University of Toronto, McGill University, etc.
After Canada, comes the UK, and then Australia. Some of the prestigious universities are located in Ireland, Russia, and Singapore as well. The choice of a university generally depends on what a student requires. When deciding on the university, one of the main factors is the visa requirements of the country where the university is located.
In the modern world computer science and IT is generally the most preferred choice for UG courses by students from across the world. Most of the work in private IT firms is centered around developing algorithms. The following table lists the Best Information Technology Colleges/Universities Abroad.
Name of the University | QS World University Rankings-IT-2023 | THE World University Ranking-IT-2024 |
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) | 1 | 3 |
2 | 4 | |
Stanford University | 3 | 2 |
University of California, Berkeley (UCB) | 4 | 21 |
University of Oxford | 5 | 1 |
National University of Singapore (NUS) | 6 | 11 |
University of Cambridge | 7 | 7 |
Harvard University | 8 | 6 |
ETH Zurich | 9 | 5 |
EPFL, Lausanne, Switzerland | 10 | 17 |
California Institute of Technology (Caltech) | 10 | 13 |
For a long time, MBA has become one of the popular PG courses among students from all over the world. The top 10 Best MBA Colleges/Universities in Abroad for Indian Students are listed in the following table.
Name of the University | QS World University Rankings-MBA-2023 |
1 | |
Penn (Wharton) | 2 |
Harvard Business School | 3 |
4 | |
HEC Paris | 5 |
6 | |
7 | |
IE Business School | 8 |
9 | |
IESE Business School | 10 |
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Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is the No. 1 university in the world according to the QS World Universities Rankings 2024. It is located in Cambridge, USA. Founded in 1861, initially, it was a small community of problem-solvers and science lovers. Today, MIT has evolved into an educational giant and comprises 1,000 faculty members and more than 11,000 undergraduate and graduate students.
Oxford is rated better in both the QS World University rankings and the THE World University rankings. The US News Report has ranked Harvard’s Economics and Business Department number 5 worldwide. In comparison, Oxford’s Economics and Business Department ranks at 10. In the field of Arts and Humanities, Oxford ranks number 1 in the world followed closely by Harvard at number 2. In the medicinal field, Harvard ranks number 1 for clinical medicine while Oxford trails at number 8.
The average cost for a degree at Harvard University is USD 221,000. The average salary that a student gets after getting placed is USD 91,000. This means that it will take 2.5 years to break even. Further, the average cost of a degree from Oxford University is about 173,000 USD.
As compared to the previous year, India now ranks fourth in the 2024 World University Rankings. India was ranked at the sixth position last year. Indian Institute of Science now ranks among the top 250 colleges in the world for the first time since 2017.
7 Indian institutions appear in the top 100 ranks of QS World University Rankings. The Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bombay, continues to be the top-ranking institute in India. Within Asia, China is at the top in QS World University Rankings Asia 2024.
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