The World's Best Universities?
by Robyn Tellefsen
What is the best university in the world? Chances are we all have different ideas of what that school might be. But according to U.S. News & World Report's third annual version of the World's Best Universities rankings, the University of Cambridge is tops - followed closely by Harvard University, Yale University, University College London, and Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), respectively.
The rankings are based on data from the QS World University Rankings, which have been produced in association with London-based QS Quacquarelli Symonds since 2004. The 2010 rankings include the Top 400 Universities worldwide, with schools from 45 different countries represented on the list. Universities are also ranked by continent (Asia, Europe, Australia and New Zealand, Latin America, and North America - Canada) and program focus (arts and humanities; engineering and IT; life sciences and biomedicine; natural sciences; and social sciences).
Why Rank?
As an international student, you don't have the luxury of visiting colleges overseas. You're forced to rely on universities' own PR, which, as we know, doesn't always paint an accurate picture of the student experience.
That's where rankings come in handy. World university rankings enable you to compare schools across continents to get an idea of how each one stacks up against the rest. They give international students a simple tool for comparison.
So how do international universities compare? The United States boasts the largest percentage (22 percent) of the top 400 universities worldwide, followed by the United Kingdom; Germany; Australia; and France and Canada (tie). In arts and humanities, Oxford University is ranked highest; in life sciences and biomedicine, Harvard University; in natural sciences, Cambridge University; in social sciences, Harvard University; and in engineering and IT, MIT.
Limitations of Rankings
The goal of the World's Best Universities rankings is to highlight schools with top marks in research quality, teaching quality, graduate employability, and internationalization. Specifically, universities are ranked by academic peer review (40 percent); faculty/student ratio (20 percent); citations per faculty (20 percent); recruiter review (10 percent); and international orientation (10 percent).
Of course, cross-country comparative data is inherently limited. Universities cannot be compared by admission test scores, graduation rates, retention rates, or financial resources because that kind of data isn't uniform internationally. Plus, learning outcomes vary, as the student experience of teaching and learning differs by culture. It is also difficult to separate out specific disciplines from the individual culture; topics such as art or literature, for example, tend to be culturally dependent.
The World's Best Universities rankings can certainly help you make a more informed decision about international universities. But remember that student experience is not necessarily reflected in black-and-white numbers and grid lines. Utilize the rankings as one component of your international university search, and you'll be well on your way to finding the best university in the world - for you.
