Leading Global Universities Of The World

Over the past few years, more and more students have decided to enroll in universities outside their home countries. A source of useful data for students applying to study abroad is the Best Global Universities rankings. These rankings concentrate on schools’ research and reputation in general, rather than their undergraduate or graduate programs specifically.  

Additionally, U.S. News’ ranking of the Best Global Universities provides insight into how American universities – which have been ranked separately by the publication for over 40 years – compare globally. All universities can be benchmarking themselves against schools in other countries and regions. This way, universities will be able to create a stronger international presence and find top schools around the globe with which to partner. 

In total, there are 1,750 prestigious global universities in the ranking, up from nearly 1,500 last year, spread out across more than 90 countries, an increase from 86 countries in 2017. For this ranking, powered by ClarivateTM, the first step involved creating a pool of 1,849 universities from which the top 1,750 schools were ranked.

First, the top 250 institutions from Clarivate’s worldwide reputation survey, as detailed above, were included in the pool of 1,849 universities. Then, from 2015 through 2019, U.S. News included any other institutions that produced at least 1,250 publications. These requirements are unchanged from last year. These two criteria produced the final 2022 rating pool of 1,849 schools, from which U.S News ranks the top 1,750 colleges in the overall ranking.

As a consequence of these requirements, numerous stand-alone graduate institutions, notably Rockefeller University in New York and the University of California—San Francisco, qualified for rating and were included in the ranking universe.

#1 Harvard University ( Cambridge, MA, United States )

Harvard University, founded in 1636, is the country’s oldest higher education institution. The majority of Harvard students are graduate students, and more than 20% of the student body is global. Harvard is centered in Cambridge, Massachusetts, although it also maintains institutions in neighboring Boston, like the Harvard Medical School. The institution boasts the world’s highest endowment of any school. More than 100 centers at Harvard conduct studies on a variety of subjects.

The university consists of an undergraduate college as well as 11 additional degree-granting schools, including the highly rated Business School, Graduate School of Education, Law School, and John F. Kennedy School of Government. Several teaching hospitals, notably Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Brigham and Women’s Hospital, are linked with the medical school. The most common majors for Harvard undergraduates are social sciences, biology/biological sciences, history, math, and psychology.

The institution’s academic calendar is semester-based, and English is the language of instruction. The majority of undergraduate students live on campus for the whole four years, first in the Harvard Yard in the heart of campus as freshmen, and then in one of 12 student houses for the remainder of their studies. Graduate students have access to some university residences. The Harvard Library is the world’s biggest academic library, with over 19 million books in its more than 70+ libraries.

University Statistics

Students	21,575
Academic Staff	2,298
Undergraduate Degrees Awarded	1,824
Doctoral Degrees Awarded	1,573
New Undergraduate Students	1,671
New Doctoral Students	1,480
International Students	5,264
International Staff	527
Master’s Degrees Awarded	4,894
Research Only Staff	2,080
New Master’s Students	3,598

#2 Massachusetts Institute of Technology ( Massachusetts Ave, Cambridge, MA, United States )

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology, founded around 1861, is located near Boston in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Around 11,000 students join the institution, with roughly 60% of them pursuing graduate degrees. MIT’s five schools are architecture and planning, engineering, humanities, arts, and social sciences, management, and science. At MIT, English is the language of teaching. The academic year is divided into four weeks, including a four-week “Independent Activities Week” in January. Undergrad and grad students, teachers, staff, and alumni partake in discussions, lecture series, recitals, and other special events during this time.

Although only first-year undergraduates are expected to live on campus, many students who are farther along in their education prefer to do so as well. Undergraduate and graduate students can get research experience at one of MIT’s numerous labs or institutes, including the MIT Nuclear Reactor Laboratory, one of the largest academic research reactors in the United States. By the time they graduate, over 90% of MIT undergraduates have participated in the school’s Student Research Opportunities Program, which pairs students with professors for research projects. In the most recent fiscal year, MIT spent more than $675 million on research, with extra federal money flowing to MIT’s Lincoln Laboratory, a Department of Defense research and development center focusing on technical solutions to national security concerns.

University Statistics

Students	11,459
Academic Staff	1,370
Undergraduate Degrees Awarded	1,142
Doctoral Degrees Awarded	687
New Undergraduate Students	1,137
New Doctoral Students	606
International Students	3,826
International Staff	538
Master’s Degrees Awarded	1,850
Research Only Staff	5,055
New Master’s Students	1,570

#3 Stanford University ( Stanford, California, United States )

Stanford University was founded in 1885 and is based in the Bay Area of California, approximately 30 miles south of San Francisco. Moreover half of the student body pursues graduate study. The institution is made up of seven schools, several of which are highly regarded for graduate-level study. Humanities and sciences, earth sciences, and engineering are three of the schools that provide both undergraduate and graduate degrees. Only graduate-level degrees are available at the business, law, education, and medical institutions. Stanford’s academic calendar is based on a quarter system, and English is the medium of teaching.

International students make up around 8% of the undergraduate student population and 30% of the graduate student body. Housing is provided for four years for freshmen, and moreover, 90 per cent of undergraduates reside on campus. Stanford also provides lodging for incoming graduate students during their first year. More than 60% of graduate students and around 30% of faculty members reside on campus. And over 9.3 million physical volumes are housed in Stanford’s library system, which includes 20 libraries.

Stanford’s research budget has surpassed $1 billion, including governmental cash for initiatives at the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, a U.S. Department of Energy lab run by Stanford. Every year, around 3,400 scientists from across the world use SLAC’s facilities. Every year, up to 1,000 scientific articles based on lab research are published.

University Statistics

Students	16,319
Academic Staff	2,227
Undergraduate Degrees Awarded	1,893
Doctoral Degrees Awarded	1,040
New Undergraduate Students	1,696
New Doctoral Students	1,045
International Students	3,831
International Staff	787
Master’s Degrees Awarded	2,393
Research Only Staff	3,259
New Master’s Students	1,661

#4 University of California ( Berkeley, CA, United States )

The University of California—Berkeley is located in the Bay Area, about 15 miles from San Francisco. The public university, commonly referred to as Berkeley or Cal, was founded in 1868. More than 70% of Berkeley students are undergraduate students. The institution is organized into 14 colleges and universities, including the prestigious Haas School of Business, the College of Chemistry, the College of Engineering, the School of Public Health, and the School of Law. The academic year is divided into semesters, and English is the language of teaching.

Around 350-degree programmes are available to students at UC—Berkeley. Electrical engineering and computer science, economics, political science, business administration, and psychology have been among the most popular majors among Berkeley freshmen. A quarter of undergraduates, including 95 per cent of freshmen, reside on campus. Many grad students live outside the campus, although they can also reside in university-owned housing. International students make up around 15% of the student body, and tuition costs are higher for foreign students.

Every year, around 3,000 overseas researchers come to Berkeley for occasional teaching or research employment. Berkeley research is carried out not just in academic department labs and research institutes, but also in some of the university’s museums and biological field stations. The distant field station sites conduct research in botany, zoology, ecology, and forestry. Berkeley researchers discovered many elements on the periodic table, including californium and berkelium.

University Statistics

Students	40,306
Academic Staff	2,136
Undergraduate Degrees Awarded	8,724
Doctoral Degrees Awarded	1,272
New Undergraduate Students	8,423
New Doctoral Students	1,269
International Students	9,257
International Staff	538
Master’s Degrees Awarded	3,284
Research Only Staff	1,178
New Master’s Students	2,699

#5 University of Oxford ( Oxford, United Kingdom )

The actual date of the University of Oxford’s establishment is uncertain, however, the institution may be traced back to at least 1096. Oxford is about 60 miles northwest of London, and graduate students make up about 45 per cent of its student body. As part of their studies, over half of Oxford’s graduate students perform research. Oxford conducts research in all four of its educational divisions: humanities, mathematics, physical and biological sciences, medicine, and social sciences. Oxford’s academic year is divided into three terms of eight weeks each: Michaelmas (fall), Hilary (spring), and Trinity (summer).

The University of Oxford is divided into three parts: the central university, 38 colleges, and 6 Permanent Private Halls, which are shorter than colleges and tend to have fewer disciplines. Each of Oxford’s colleges has a dining hall, common room, and library. Undergraduates are given college accommodation for their first year and can frequently continue to reside there throughout their academic careers. University graduates are not guaranteed accommodation, however certain universities, particularly for overseas students, may offer room for them during their first year. Non-European Union students pay greater tuition. More than 900 scholarships for graduate students have been made accessible by the university and its academic departments and schools, as well as dozens of other organisations.