World’s Top Universities In 2017: Harvard, MIT, Stanford, UC Berkeley, and Caltech Tops

So it’s no surprise that Harvard University ranked No. 1 among the top 1,000 universities in the world, according to the 2017 edition of U.S. News & World Report’s Best Global Universities rankings. Harvard University has been ranked near the top globally in other recent publications, including No. 1 in the world by the Center for World University Rankings, No. 1 in the Academic Ranking of World Universities, No. 1 in the CEOWORLD magazine’s global business school rankings, and No. 6 in the Times Higher Education World University Rankings.

The ranking placed Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) at No. 2, followed by Stanford University at No. 3, University of California Berkeley at No. 4, and California Institute of Technology at No. 5. Princeton University, Columbia University, and University of California Los Angeles followed in 8th, 9th, and 10th place.

Harvard, MIT, Stanford, UC-Berkeley, and Caltech: What do these universities have in common?

They’re the top 5 universities in the world.

And the U.S. doesn’t only have the top 5 overall — of the 1,000 top universities, 210 are in the United States.

Which other countries have a lot of strong universities?

China (87) has the next most, followed by the United Kingdom (68), Germany (55) and France (49).

Heavily based on the universities’ reputation for global and regional academic research, rankings cover the top 1,000 institutions from 65 different countries.

Top 10 Best Global Universities in the world

1. Harvard University (U.S.)
2. Massachusetts Institute of Technology (U.S.)
3. Stanford University (U.S.)
4. University of California—Berkeley (U.S.)
5. California Institute of Technology (U.S.)
6. University of Oxford (U.K.)
7. University of Cambridge (U.K.)
8. Princeton University (U.S.)
9. Columbia University (U.S.)
10. University of California—Los Angeles (U.S.)

Best Global Universities in Africa

1. University of Cape Town (South Africa)
2. University of Witwatersrand (South Africa)
3. University of Kwazulu Natal (South Africa)
4. Stellenbosch University (South Africa)
5. Cairo University (Egypt)

Best Global Universities in Asia

1. University of Tokyo (Japan)
2. National University of Singapore
3. Peking University (China)
4. Tsinghua University (China)
5. Nanyang Technological University (Singapore)

Best Global Universities in Australia/New Zealand

1. University of Melbourne (Australia)
2. University of Sydney
3. University of Queensland (Australia)
4. Monash University (Australia)
5. Australian National University (tie)
5. University of New South Wales (Australia) (tie)

Best Global Universities in Europe

1. University of Oxford (U.K.)
2. University of Cambridge (U.K.)
3. Imperial College London
4. University College London
5. Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich (Switzerland)

Best Global Universities in Latin America

1. Universidade de Sao Paulo (Brazil)
2. Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro (Brazil)
3. University of Buenos Aires (Argentina)
4. Universidade Estadual de Campinas (Brazil)
5. Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile