Top Universities in the World 2018 - With nearly 5 million students jumping on the study abroad bandwagon, universities across the world are engaged in a serious competition to attract international students to their classrooms. World university rankings, in this case, are a major focal point around which international students are increasingly basing their decisions.
An interesting point to consider here is that while most of the major rankings platforms, namely Times Higher Education (THE), Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) and the Shanghai-based ARWU, are diversifying into new rankings like best international universities or reputation ranking, the QS-backed World University Rankings remains a cut above the rest, being the most important and awaited ranking of the year as it provides a comprehensive analysis of universities based on major grounds like faculty, citations and research avenues.
With almost 30 universities in the top 100, the United States has yet again proved its dominance in the QS World University Rankings 2018. USA has been holding its own in the QS and THE Ranking since last year, with 5 universities once again making it to the top 10. While the University of Cambridge has lost its position and slipped one rank to fifth, the University of Oxford and University College of London have maintained their positions at sixth and seventh in the QS rankings. The Imperial College of London has moved up one rank to occupy the ninth position this year.
Among the different regions of the world in the QS rankings, Asian countries in 2018 have contributed 23 universities as opposed to 20 in the top 100 in 2017. European presence in the top 100 has gone down from 37 universities in 2017 to 33 in 2018. Universities representing the Oceania region have also improved, with the number rising from 7 in 2017 to 8 in 2018. As many as 34 universities from North America feature in the top 100 in 2018, as opposed to 36 in 2017. Universidad de Buenos Aires (UBA) represents Latin America in both the 2017 and 2018 rankings, while also managing to improve its position from 85 to 75.
Countries and their number of universities within top 200, 2017 – 2018
The USA remains to be the country with the most number of universities in the top 200 in the world in all the three ranking. The United Kingdom holds the second place with 28 universities in QS Ranking 2018. Among the European countries, after the UK, Netherlands and Germany occupy the next places with 10 and 11 universities respectively.
Japan leads the Asian countries with nine universities in the top 200 followed by South Korea and China each having 7 universities in the top 200.
Listed below are countries and the number of universities in the top 200.
Country | QS | THE | ARWU | |||
2018 | 2017 | 2018 | 2017 | 2017 | 2016 | |
47 | 48 | 62 | 62 | 70 | 71 | |
7 | 9 | 6 | 8 | 8 | 6 | |
28 | 30 | 31 | 32 | 20 | 21 | |
5 | 5 | 6 | 4 | 9 | 9 | |
7 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 6 | |
11 | 11 | 20 | 22 | 15 | 14 | |
10 | 12 | 13 | 13 | 9 | 9 | |
Top universities in Denmark | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 |
4 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | |
Top universities in Spain | 3 | 1 | 2 | 2 | - | 1 |
2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | |
1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | |
9 | 8 | 2 | 2 | 7 | 6 | |
Top universities in South Korea | 7 | 7 | 4 | 4 | 7 | 3 |
Top universities in China | 7 | 7 | 7 | 4 | 9 | 9 |
Top universities in India | 3 | 2 | - | - | - | - |
Top universities in Malaysia | 1 | 1 | - | - | - | - |
2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | |
2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | - | 1 | |
9 | 9 | 8 | 8 | 10 | 8 | |
- | - | - | - | - | - | |
The list below reflects the Top universities in the World 2018 according to THE, QS and ARWU. Students can make a comparative analysis of the best universities in the world 2018 by comparing the rankings given by these agencies.
Top Universities in the World
Sl.no | Universities | Country | QS Rank | THE Rank | ARWU | |||
2018 | 2017 | 2018 | 2017 | 2017 | 2016 | |||
1 | Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) | USA | 1 | 1 | 5 | 5 | 4 | 5 |
2 | Stanford University | USA | 2 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 2 |
3 | Harvard University | USA | 3 | 3 | 6 | 6 | 1 | 1 |
4 | California Institute of Technology (Caltech) | USA | 4 | 5 | 3 | 2 | 9 | 8 |
5 | University of Cambridge | UK | 5 | 4 | 2 | 4 | 3 | 4 |
6 | University of Oxford | UK | 6 | 6 | 1 | 1 | 7 | 7 |
7 | UCL (University College London) | UK | 7 | 7 | 16 | 15 | 16 | 17 |
8 | Imperial College London | UK | 8 | 9 | 8 | 8 | 27 | 22 |
9 | University of Chicago | USA | 9 | 10 | 9 | 10 | 10 | 10 |
10 | ETH Zurich - Swiss Federal Institute of Technology | Switzerland | 10 | 8 | 10 | 9 | -- | 19 |
11 | Nanyang Technological University, Singapore (NTU) | Singapore | 11 | 13 | 52 | 54 | 101-150 | 101-150 |
12 | Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) | Switzerland | 12 | 14 | 38 | 30 | 76 | 92 |
13 | Princeton University | USA | 13 | 11 | 7 | 7 | 6 | 6 |
14 | Cornell University | USA | 14 | 16 | 19 | 19 | 14 | 13 |
15 | National University of Singapore (NUS) | Singapore | 15 | 12 | 22 | 24 | 91 | 83 |
16 | Yale University | USA | 16 | 15 | 12 | 12 | 11 | 11 |
17 | Johns Hopkins University | USA | 17 | 17 | 13 | 17 | 18 | 16 |
18 | Columbia University | USA | 18 | 20 | 14 | 16 | 8 | 9 |
19 | University of Pennsylvania | USA | 19 | 18 | 10 | 13 | 17 | 18 |
20 | The Australian National University | Australia | 20 | 22 | 48 | 47 | 97 | 77 |
21 | Duke University | USA | 21 | 24 | 17 | 18 | 26 | 23 |
22 | University of Michigan | USA | 21 | 23 | 21 | 21 | 24 | 25 |
23 | King's College London | UK | 23 | 21 | 36 | 36 | 46 | 50 |
24 | The University of Edinburgh | UK | 23 | 19 | 27 | 27 | 32 | 41 |
25 | Tsinghua University | China | 25 | 24 | 30 | 35 | 48 | 58 |
26 | The University of Hong Kong | Hong Kong | 26 | 27 | 40 | 43 | 101-149 | 101-150 |
27 | University of California, Berkeley (UCB) | USA | 27 | 28 | 18 | 10 | 5 | 3 |
28 | The University of Tokyo | USA | 28 | 34 | 46 | 39 | 24 | 26 |
29 | Northwestern University | Japan | 28 | 26 | 20 | 20 | 22 | 20 |
30 | The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology | Hong Kong | 30 | 36 | 44 | 50 | 201-299 | 201-300 |
31 | University of Toronto | Canada | 31 | 32 | 22 | 22 | 23 | 23 |
32 | McGill University | Canada | 32 | 30 | 42 | 42 | 67 | 67 |
33 | University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) | USA | 33 | 31 | 15 | 14 | 12 | 12 |
34 | The University of Manchester | UK | 34 | 29 | 54 | 55 | 38 | 35 |
35 | London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) | UK | 35 | 37 | 25 | 25 | 151-200 | 151-200 |
36 | Kyoto University | Japan | 36 | 37 | 74 | 91 | 35 | 32 |
37 | Seoul National University | South Korea | 36 | 35 | 74 | 72 | 101-150 | 101-150 |
38 | Peking University | China | 38 | 39 | 27 | 29 | 71 | 71 |
39 | University of California, San Diego (UCSD) | USA | 38 | 40 | 31 | 41 | 15 | 14 |
40 | Fudan University | China | 40 | 43 | 116 | 155 | 101-150 | 101-150 |
41 | KAIST - Korea Advanced Institute of Science & Technology | South Korea | 41 | 46 | 95 | 89 | 201-300 | 201-300 |
42 | The University of Melbourne | Australia | 41 | 42 | 32 | 33 | 39 | 40 |
43 | Ecole normale supérieure, Paris | France | 43 | 33 | -- | -- | 69 | 87 |
44 | University of Bristol | UK | 44 | 41 | 76 | 71 | 61 | 57 |
45 | The University of New South Wales (UNSW Sydney) | Australia | 45 | 49 | 85 | 78 | 101-149 | 101-150 |
46 | The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) | Hong Kong | 46 | 44 | 50 | 76 | 151-200 | 201-300 |
47 | Carnegie Mellon University | USA | 47 | 58 | 24 | 23 | 80 | 68 |
48 | The University of Queensland | Australia | 47 | 51 | 65 | 60 | 55 | 55 |
49 | City University of Hong Kong | Hong Kong | 49 | 55 | 119 | 119 | 207-300 | 201-300 |
50 | The University of Sydney | Australia | 50 | 46 | 61 | 60 | 83 | 82 |
Methodology:
While the overall methodology for the World University Rankings 2018 remain more or less the same, the parameters for the three ranking agencies differ.
Below are the methodologies followed by THE, QS and ARWU to arrive at the World University Rankings 2018.
Times Higher Education (THE)
THE uses 13 carefully calibrated performance indicators which are grouped into the following five categories:
Teaching – This indicator focuses on the learning environment offered by the institution.
Research – This includes the volume, income and reputation of research carried out by the university.
Citations – Citations reflect the number of times the university's work has been cited by independent bodies beyond the university. It maps the overall research influence of the university.
International outlook – International outlook mainly focuses on the ratio of international staff to students, along with work in foreign research.
Innovation or Industry income – This indicator basically analyses the knowledge transferred to the sector in which the university has conducted research in.
Quacquarelli Symonds (QS)
QS rankings are based on six performance indicators. These are:
Academic reputation – This is based on a survey of academics where they are asked to identify the institutions where the best work is taking place in their domains.
Employer reputation – This indicator takes into account an employer’s perception of the university and the kind of graduates it produces.
Student-to-faculty ratio – This indicator checks whether the university has a balanced student-faculty ratio or not.
Citations per faculty – Same as THE rankings, citations reflect the number of times the university's work has been cited by independent bodies beyond the university.
International faculty ratio – This indicator checks the internationalization of the university through the number of international faculty in the institute.
International student ratio – This indicator checks the internationalization of the university through the number of international students in the institute.
Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU)
ARWU considers universities that have Nobel Laureates, Fields Medalists, Highly Cited Researchers or papers published in the 'Nature' or 'Science' journals. The indicators are:
Quality of Education – This takes into account any alumni of the institution who have won Nobel Prizes or medals in their respective fields.
Quality of Faculty – This indicator reflects the academic quality of the faculty in the university, such as whether they have won awards or have been cited by research works.
Research Output – This checks the number of papers published by the university and their quality.
Per Capita Performance – The Per capita academic performance of an institution is assessed by dividing the score obtained by all the three indicators given above by the number of full-time equivalent academic staff.
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