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Global ranking: US universities are most prestigious in the world


Times Higher Education reveals World Reputation Rankings 2017. US universities rank as most prestigious in the world; names distinguished US universities.

Times Higher Education (THE) has today published its World Reputation Rankings, a reputable list of the world’s most prestigious universities compiled from research insight from leading global academics.

The US takes 8 out of the top 10 places, with Harvard University taking the top spot for the seventh year in a row, and have a total of 42 institutions in the top 100.

However, Asian universities continue their rise with 28 institutions in this year’s ranking.

The Times Higher Education World Reputation Rankings 2017: United States (Copyright: Times Higher Education 2017) (Read the full results and analysis here):

Reputation rank 2017 Reputation rank 2016 Institution Country
1 1 Harvard University United States
2 2 Massachusetts Institute of Technology United States
3 3 Stanford University United States
6 6 University of California, Berkeley United States
7 7 Princeton University United States
8 8 Yale University United States
9 11 University of Chicago United States
10 10 California Institute of Technology United States
12 9 Columbia University United States
13 13 University of California, Los Angeles United States
15 14 University of Michigan United States
19 16 University of Pennsylvania United States
21 22 Johns Hopkins University United States
23 17 Cornell University United States
=25 25 New York University United States
28 28 Duke University United States
29 =35 University of California, San Diego United States
31 =30 Northwestern University United States
=32 34 University of Texas at Austin United States
=32 =35 University of Wisconsin-Madison United States
=34 29 University of Washington United States
36 =30 University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign United States
37 33 Carnegie Mellon University United States
=42 42 University of California, San Francisco United States
48 =40 Georgia Institute of Technology United States
49 =45 University of California, Davis United States
50 51-60 University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill United States
51-60 =49 University of Minnesota United States
51-60 51-60 Purdue University United States
61-70 71-80 Brown University United States
61-70 71-80 University of California, Santa Barbara United States
61-70 51-60 Ohio State University United States
61-70 44 Pennsylvania State University United States
71-80 51-60 University of Maryland, College Park United States
71-80 61-70 Michigan State University United States
71-80 61-70 University of Southern California United States
71-80 61-70 Washington University in St Louis United States
81-90 71-80 Boston University United States
81-90 University of Florida United States
91-100 University of Arizona United States
91-100 81-90 Indiana University United States
91-100 71-80 Texas A&M University United States

“The United States continues to dominate the THE World Reputation Rankings but several of its most prestigious institutions have been outshone by Asia’s leading universities for the first time,” said Phil Baty, Times Higher Education rankings editor, in a statement. “Claiming 42 places in the top 100 list (one fewer than last year), the US is the most-represented country in the table. But it will have to watch out for the rise of Asia as several of the continent’s higher education stars overtake well-established American powerhouses.”

(Next page: The top 30 universities worldwide)

Baty noted that China’s Tsinghua University and Peking University both leapfrogged the University of Pennsylvania and Cornell University in the table this year, while the University of Tokyo now has a stronger reputation than Columbia University. Meanwhile Seoul National University is now considered more prestigious than the University of California, Davis.

Overall, 20 of the US’s 42 representatives have declined since last year and only eight have improved; the rest are stagnant.

“Despite these movements, the relative prestige of the US’s top six university brands has not changed, with Harvard, MIT, Stanford, Berkeley, Princeton and Yale all claiming the same positions in the overall top 8 as last year,” he continued. “The University of Chicago joins the top 10 for the first time at ninth.”

Baty also mentioned that “the situation is not much rosier in Canada. Although the country’s three leading institutions remain in the list, they have all lost ground; Toronto has slipped one place to 24th, while British Columbia and McGill have each dropped three places to 40th and joint 42nd respectively.”

The Times Higher Education World Reputation Rankings: Top 30 (Copyright Times Higher Education 2017) (Read the full results and analysis here):

Reputation rank 2017 Reputation rank 2016 Institution Country
1 1 Harvard University United States
2 2 Massachusetts Institute of Technology United States
3 3 Stanford University United States
=4 4 University of Cambridge United Kingdom
=4 5 University of Oxford United Kingdom
6 6 University of California, Berkeley United States
7 7 Princeton University United States
8 8 Yale University United States
9 11 University of Chicago United States
10 10 California Institute of Technology United States
11 12 University of Tokyo Japan
12 9 Columbia University United States
13 13 University of California, Los Angeles United States
14 18 Tsinghua University China
15 14 University of Michigan United States
16 20 University College London United Kingdom
17 21 Peking University China
18 15 Imperial College London United Kingdom
19 16 University of Pennsylvania United States
20 24 London School of Economics and Political Science United Kingdom
21 22 Johns Hopkins University United States
22 19 ETH Zurich – Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich Switzerland
23 17 Cornell University United States
24 23 University of Toronto Canada
=25 27 Kyoto University Japan
=25 25 New York University United States
27 26 National University of Singapore Singapore
28 28 Duke University United States
29 =35 University of California, San Diego United States
30 =30 Lomonosov Moscow State University Russian Federation

Material from a press release was used in this report.

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