Top universities in the world 2015

Updated on Oct 6, 2015 - 12:26 p.m. IST by Bedasree Das

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Top Universities in the World 2015 - With nearly 5 million students jumping on the study abroad bandwagon, universities across the world are getting into 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 - 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 World University Ranking is still the most important and awaited ranking of the year as it helps in a comprehensive analysis of the universities based on major grounds like faculty, citations and research avenues.

American Universities yet again prove their dominance in the World University Rankings 2015, with Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Harvard and Caltech making it to the top of the three league tables. The 2015 top universities ranking saw some major movements in some of top countries. While USA is slowly losing its stronghold in the THE Ranking with 6 universities making it to the top 10 compared to 7 last year, it was UK who took blow in QS with all its universities in the top 10 falling from their positions.

Among the better performing countries, European countries like Switzerland and Netherlands have made major headways in the league tables with Switzerland’s ETH Zurich at the 9th place zooming into the World top 10 for the first time in QS ranking.

The list below reflects the Top universities in the World 2015 according to THE, QS and ARWU. Students can make a comparative analysis of the best universities in the world 2015 by comparing the ranking given by these agencies.

Check the List of Top Universities in the world 2015

University	Country	QS	THE	ARWU
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)	USA	1	5	3
Harvard University	USA	2	6	1
University of Cambridge	UK	3	4	5
Stanford University	USA	3	3	2
California Institute of Technology (Caltech)	USA	5	1	7
University of Oxford	UK	6	2	10
UCL (University College London)	UK	7	14	18
Imperial College London	UK	8	8	23
ETH Zurich - Swiss Federal Institute of Technology	Switzerland	9	9	20
University of Chicago	USA	10	10	9
Princeton University	USA	11	7	6
National University of Singapore (NUS)	Singapore	12	26	101-150
Nanyang Technological University, Singapore (NTU)	Singapore	13	55	151-200
EPFL (Ecole Polytechnique FÃ©dÃ©rale de Lausanne)	Switzerland	14	31	101-150
Yale University	USA	15	12	11
Johns Hopkins University	USA	16	11	16
Cornell University	USA	17	18	13
University of Pennsylvania	USA	18	17	17
King’s College London	UK	19	27	55
The Australian National University	Australia	19	52	77
The University of Edinburgh	UK	21	24	47
Columbia University	USA	22	15	8
Ecole normale supÃ©rieure, Paris	France	23	54	72
McGill University	Canada	24	38	64
Tsinghua University	China	25	47	101-150
University of California, Berkeley (UCB)	USA	26	13	4
University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA)	USA	27	16	12
The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology	Hong Kong	28	59	201-300
Duke University	USA	29	20	31
The University of Hong Kong	Hong Kong	30	44	151-200
University of Michigan	USA	30	21	22
Northwestern University	USA	32	25	27
The University of Manchester	UK	33	56	41
University of Toronto	Canada	34	19	25
London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE)	UK	35	23	101-150
Seoul National University	South Korea	36	85	101-150
University of Bristol	UK	37	69	66
Kyoto University	Japan	38	88	26
The University of Tokyo	Japan	39	43	21
Ecole Polytechnique	France	40	101	301-400
Peking University	China	41	42	101-150
The University of Melbourne	Australia	42	33	44
KAIST - Korea Advanced Institute of Science & Technology	South Korea	43	148	201-300
University of California, San Diego (UCSD)	USA	44	39	14
The University of Sydney	Australia	45	56	101-150
The University of New South Wales (UNSW Australia)	Australia	46	82	-
The University of Queensland	Australia	46	60	77
The University of Warwick	UK	48	80	92
Brown University	USA	49	51	75
University of British Columbia	Canada	50	34	40
The Chinese University of Hong Kong	China	51	138	151-200
Fudan University	China	51	201-250	151-200
New York University (NYU)	USA	53	30	27
University of Wisconsin-Madison	USA	54	50	24
University of Amsterdam	Netherlands	55	58	101-500
Tokyo Institute of Technology	Japan	56	201-250	151-200
City University of Hong Kong	Hong Kong	57	201-250	201-300
Osaka University	Japan	58	251-300	85
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign	USA	59	36	29
Technische UniversitÃ¤t MÃ¼nchen	Germany	60	53	51
Durham University	UK	61	70	201-300
Carnegie Mellon University	USA	62	22	61
University of Glasgow	UK	62	76	101-150
Delft University of Technology	Netherlands	64	65	201-300
University of Washington	USA	65	32	15
Ruprecht-Karls-Universitaet Heidelberg	Germany	66	37	46
Monash University	Australia	67	73	101-150
University of St Andrews	UK	68	86	301-400
University of Copenhagen	Denmark	69	82	35
The University of Nottingham	UK	70	143	101-150
Lund University	Sweden	70	90	101-150
National Taiwan University (NTU)	Taiwan	70	301-350	151-200
Shanghai Jiao Tong University	China	70	301-350	101-150
Tohoku University	Japan	74	201-250	101-150
Ludwig-Maximilians-UniversitÃ¤t MÃ¼nchen	Germany	75	29	52
University of Birmingham	UK	76	119	101-150
University of Texas at Austin	USA	77	46	37
Trinity College Dublin	Ireland	78	160	151-200
University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill	USA	79	63	39
The University of Sheffield	UK	80	97	101-150
University of Southampton	UK	81	110	101-150
The University of Auckland	New Zealand	82	172	201-300
KU Leuven	Belgium	82	35	90
Georgia Institute of Technology	USA	84	41	101-150
University of Zurich		85	104	54
University of California, Davis	USA	85	44	57
University of Leeds	UK	87	133	101-150
Pohang University of Science And Technology (POSTECH)	South Korea	87	116	301-400
University of Geneva	Switzerland	89	131	58
Purdue University	USA	89	113	61
Boston University	USA	91	64	73
KTH Royal Institute of Technology	Sweden	92	155	201-300
KIT, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology	Germany	93	138	201-300
Utrecht University	Netherlands	94	62	56
Leiden University	Netherlands	95	67	82
University of Alberta	UK	96	137	101-150
University of Helsinki	Finland	96	76	67
The University of Western Australia	Australia	98	109	87
The Ohio State University	USA	99	90	67
University of Groningen	Netherlands	100	74	75
Pennsylvania State University	USA	101	75	60
Uppsala University	Sweden	102	81	61
University of York	USA	103	131	201-300
Korea University	South Korea	104	251-300	201-300
Yonsei University	South Korea	105	301-350	201-300
Rice University	USA	106	101	81
Aarhus University	Denmark	107	149	73
Lomonosov Moscow State University	Russia	108	161	86
Queen Mary University of London	UK	109	98	151-200
Washington University in St. Louis	USA	110	60	32
Zhejiang University	China	110	251-300	101-150
Technical University of Denmark	Denmark	112	167	101-150
The University of Adelaide	Australia	113	149	151-200
University of Science and Technology of China	China	113	201-250	151-200
UniversitÃ© de MontrÃ©al	Canada	115	113	101-150
The Hong Kong Polytechnic University	Hong Kong	116	201-250	301-400
Eindhoven University of Technology	Netherlands	117	176	301-400
Sungkyunkwan University (SKKU)	South Korea	118	153	301-400
Freie Universitaet Berlin	Germany	119	72	301-400
Nagoya University	Japan	120	301-350	77
Lancaster University	UK	121	130	301-400
Cardiff University	UK	122	182	151-200
University of Minnesota	USA	123	65	30
Universidad de Buenos Aires (UBA)	Argentina	124	-	151-200
Ghent University	Netherlands	124	118	71
Erasmus University Rotterdam	Netherlands	126	71	151-200
Humboldt-UniversitÃ¤t zu Berlin	Germany	126	49	-
University of Maryland, College Park	USA	126	117	401-500
University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB)	USA	129	39	38
University of Southern California	USA	130	68	49
Nanjing University	China	130	251-300	201-300
Chalmers University of Technology	Sweden	132	201- 250	301-400
Albert-Ludwigs-Universitaet Freiburg	Germany	133	84	101-150
University of Pittsburgh	USA	133	79	70
Wageningen University	Netherlands	135	47	101-150
University of Oslo	Norway	135	135	58
University of Aberdeen	UK	137	172	201-300
UniversitÃ© Pierre et Marie Curie (UPMC)	France	137	113	36
University of Basel	Switzerland	139	101	87
Aalto University	Finland	139	251-300	401-500
Hokkaido University	Japan	139	401-500	151-200
Kyushu University	Japan	142	401-500	201-300
University of Lausanne	Switzerland	143	144	201-300
Universidade de SÃ£o Paulo	Brazil	143	251-300	101-150
RWTH Aachen University	Germany	145	110	201-300
Universiti Malaya (UM)	Malaysia	146	-	-
Indian Institute of Science (IISc) Bangalore	India	147	251-300	301-400
The Hebrew University of Jerusalem	Israel	148	178	67
UniversitÃ© Catholique de Louvain (UCL)	Belgium	149	167	151-200
McMaster University	USA	149	94	96
University of Liverpool	UK	151	157	101-150
University of Waterloo	USA	152	179	201-300
University of Vienna	Austria	153	201-250	151-200
University College Dublin	Ireland	154	176	301-400
National Tsing Hua University	China	155	251-300	201-300
Ecole Centrale de Paris	France	156	-	-
University of Reading	UK	156	164	301-400
Dartmouth College	UK	158	104	201-300
University of Bath	UK	159	251-300	401-300
Texas A&M University	USA	159	193	100
Universidad Nacional AutÃ³noma de MÃ©xico (UNAM)	Mexico	160	-	201-300
The University of Exeter	UK	161	93	151-200
Newcastle University	UK	162	196	201-300
University of California, Irvine	USA	163	106	50
Michigan State University	USA	164	99	99
Emory University	USA	165	90	101-150
University of Bern	Switzerland	166	120	151-200
University of Barcelona	Spain	166	146	201-300
Georg-August-University Goettingen	Germany	168	99	101-150
Maastricht University	Netherlands	169	88	201-300
Pontificia Universidad CatÃ³lica de Chile (UC)	Chiles	170	401-500	401-500
University of Cape Town	South Africa	171	120	201-300
University of Virginia	USA	172	147	101-150
University of Otago	New Zealand	173	201-250	201-300
Eberhard Karls UniversitÃ¤t TÃ¼bingen	Germany	173	78	-
University of Colorado Boulder	USA	175	127	34
Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam	Netherlands	176	154	98
Radboud University	Netherlands	177	125	101-150
Technische UniversitÃ¤t Berlin	Germany	178	-	301-400
Indian Institute of Technology Delhi (IITD)	India	179	401-500	-
University of Florida	USA	180	120	83
University of Bergen	Norway	181	182	201-300
Queen's University Belfast	UK	182	200	301-400
National Chiao Tung University	Taiwan	182	301-350	301-400
Stockholm University	Sweden	182	136	77
University of Illinois, Chicago (UIC)	USA	185	201-250	151-200
Universidad Autonoma de Madrid	Spain	186	201-250	201-300
University of Sussex	UK	187	140	151-200
Politecnico di Milano	Italy	187	201-250	201-300
University of Twente	Netherlands	188	149	301-400
Ãcole Normale SupÃ©rieure de Lyon	France	188	201-250	201-300
University of Rochester	USA	190	158	101-150
Universitat AutÃ²noma de Barcelona	Spain	190	146	151-200
The University of Western Ontario	Canada	192	201-250	-
Hanyang University	South Korea	193	351-400	301-400
Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB)	Belgium	194	301-350	201-300
University of Notre Dame	USA	195	108	201-300
Universidade estadual de Campinas(Unicamp)	Brazil	195	351-400	301-400
Vienna University of Technology	Austria	197	251-400	401-500
Technion - Israel Institute of Technology	Israel	198	301-350	77
King Fahd University of Petroleum & Minerals	Saudi Arabia	199	501-600	401-500