London: Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is the world’s best university for a record-breaking seventh consecutive year. The fifteenth edition of the QS World University Rankings , released recently by global higher education analysts QS Quacquarelli Symonds, sees MIT hold outright the record it previously shared with Harvard University.
QS rank the world’s 1000 best universities, which come from 85 different countries. Over 65 million stakeholders will view the rankings on http://www.TopUniversities.com this year.
US institutions retain all the top four positions (Stanford 2nd, Harvard 3rd, Caltech 4th).
The UK’s top institution has changed for the first time since 2004, with the University of Oxford (5th) usurping its longtime rival, the University of Cambridge (6th).
Both UK and US universities record more improvements than drops, representing stabilization for both sectors after recent regressions.
Continental Europe’s best university is ETH Zurich (7th, up from 10th).
Asia’s two best universities are the National University of Singapore (11th) and compatriot Nanyang Technological University (12th).
China achieves its first top-20 position in the QS World University Ranking since 2006: Tsinghua University places 17th.
Latin America continues to struggle, especially in QS’s research metric, but Argentina’s Universidad de Buenos Aires reaches its highest-ever rank (73rd, up from 75th).
Both Malaysia and Russia record consistent, noteworthy improvements.
Singapore is again home to Asia’s two best universities. The National University of Singapore regains the continental supremacy it lost last year, rising to 11th position. Nanyang Technological University ranks 12th. Tsinghua University becomes the first Chinese top-20 university since QS’s first standalone compilation.
Australia loses its only top-20 institution, with the Australian National University falling from 20th to 24th.
Ben Sowter, Research Director, QS, said: “After some years where the major narrative has been the relentless improvement of institutions outside the Anglosphere duopoly, this year’s edition sees both the United States and the United Kingdom emphasize their continued excellence as higher education nations. With six of the world’s top 10 research institutions – according to citations impact – in America, and seven of the world’s top 10 research institutions – according to raw citations yield – also there, it is clear that the US remains unparalleled as far as academic thought-leadership and intellectual innovation are concerned.”
QS World University Rankings 2019: Top 20
2019 2018
1 1 Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) USA
2 2 Stanford University USA
3 3 Harvard University USA
4 4 California Institute of Technology (Caltech) USA
5 6 University of Oxford UK
6 5 University of Cambridge UK
7 10 ETH Zurich (Swiss Federal Institute of Technology) Switzerland
8 8 Imperial College London United Kingdom
9 9 University of Chicago United States
10 7 UCL (University College London) United Kingdom
11 15 National University of Singapore (NUS) Singapore
12 11 Nanyang Technological University (NTU) Singapore
13 13 Princeton University United States
14 14 Cornell University United States
15 16 Yale University United States
16 18 Columbia University United States
17 25 Tsinghua University China
18 23= University of Edinburgh United Kingdom
19 19 University of Pennsylvania United States
20 21= University of Michigan United States
Source: QS Quacquarelli Symonds 2004-2018 https://www.topuniversities.com
