Click here for the latest version of this article, based on the 2020 results. 

The QS World University Rankings® 2016-2017, released today, showcases just over 900 of the top universities in the world. If you consider that there are an estimated 20,000 universities worldwide in total, it’s clear that ranking among the top 900 is quite an achievement – while those in the top 100 are truly part of a global elite. Here’s an overview of the very top universities in the world this year…

1. Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)

Leading the list for the fifth consecutive year, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is proving difficult to shift from the top spot, thanks to its strong international reputation, highly influential research, and healthy faculty/student ratio.

2. Stanford University

Based in Silicon Valley, Stanford University climbs one place in the ranking this year, overtaking Harvard in the process. It scores well across all of the indicators used in the ranking, particularly the global reputation surveys of academics and employers.

3. Harvard University

It may no longer be at the top of the ranking (which it led between 2004 and 2009), but Harvard University remains one of the world’s most-respected institutions across a broad range of subject areas – and in fact it’s still number one in both of the reputation surveys.

4. University of Cambridge

Breaking the US monopoly, the UK’s University of Cambridge is another former table-topper. Scoring well across all metrics assessed in the ranking, it has a particularly strong faculty/student ratio – reflecting its longstanding commitment to small-group tuition.

5. California Institute of Technology (Caltech)

Though much smaller than most of the top universities in the world, Caltech punches well above its weight, particularly in the science and technology subjects on which it is focused. Impressively, it beats both halves of Oxbridge on faculty/student ratio, and also stands out for its high research impact.

6. University of Oxford

Never far apart, the two halves of ‘Oxbridge’ are almost neck and neck on each of the six indicators assessed, with Oxford in fact narrowly beating Cambridge for its proportion of international students and faculty, as well as claiming a slightly better faculty/student ratio.

7. UCL (University College London)

The UK’s third representative, UCL claims to be “London’s Global University” – and this assertion is well-founded. It has one of the most international student bodies amongst the top universities in the world, as well as being highly rated by both academics and employers.

8. ETH Zurich

The highest-ranked institution from outside of the US and UK, Switzerland’s ETH Zurich has been steadily climbing the table – this year improving its position by one. Its strongest scores are for international diversity of faculty and research impact, reflecting its status as a global research powerhouse.

9. Imperial College London

Though one place further apart than previously, Imperial College London is still hot on the heels of fellow London institution UCL, and remains renowned for its work in scientific and technical subjects, as well as its prestigious business school.

10. University of Chicago

Stable in 10^th place, the University of Chicago rounds out the top 10 once again. Scoring particularly well in the academic reputation survey, it is further bolstered by its strong reputation with employers, and its high research impact.

Top universities in the world by country

Excluding the US, UK and Switzerland – whose top universities all feature within the global top 10 – here’s an at-a-glance review of the highest-ranked institutions in each of the countries represented in the top 100:

Top in Argentina: Universidad de Buenos Aires (joint 85^th)

Top in Australia: Australian National University (22^nd)

Top in Belgium: Katholieke Universiteit Leuven (KU Leuven; 79^th)

Top in Canada: McGill University (30^th)

Top in China: Tsinghua University (joint 24^th)

Top in Denmark: University of Copenhagen (joint 68^th)

Top in Finland: University of Helsinki (91^st)

Top in France: Ecole Normale Supérieure, Paris (ENS Paris; 33^rd)

Top in Germany: Technische Universität München (TUM; 60^th)

Top in Hong Kong: University of Hong Kong (27^th)

Top in Ireland: Trinity College Dublin (joint 98^th)

Top in Japan: University of Tokyo (34^th)

Top in the Netherlands: University of Amsterdam (57^th)

Top in New Zealand: University of Auckland (81^st)

Top in Singapore: National University of Singapore (12^th)

Top in South Korea: Seoul National University (35^th)

Top in Sweden: Lund University (73^rd)

Top in Taiwan: National Taiwan University (joint 68^th)

To discover more of the top universities in the world, check out the full interactive ranking table, and sort the results by performance indicator and by country. Registered site members (join for free!) can also directly compare up to four universities on additional criteria, including average tuition fees, size and ranking history.

Want more content like this? Register for free site membership to get regular updates and your own personal content feed.

Information under strict embargo until 00:01 BST on Tuesday 6th September

Investment in higher education pays in QS World University Rankings 2016-2017

Join the conversation #QSWUR

The thirteenth edition of the QS World University Rankings indicates that investment in higher education – either public or private – is a key differentiating factor between this year’s risers (South Korea, Russia, the United States, and China) and fallers (Western and Southern Europe, South Africa, and Latin America).

Highlights

• MIT the world's top university for the fifth year.
• Stanford, 2nd (previously 3=) and Harvard, 3rd (previously 2nd) follow.
• US institutions hold all top-three places for the first time since 2004-5.
• Western European institutions consistently suffer drops, particularly the United Kingdom and Germany. Cambridge drops to fourth.
• Russia and South Korea rise significantly (latter has 16 top-500 universities compared to 13 last year).
• China continues to progress, with Tsinghua (24th) rising to its highest-ever position.
• National University of Singapore (12th) remains the leading Asian institution.
• Australia and Canada increase their representation in the top 200, with nine universities apiece, one more than last year.
• Latin America struggles, but sees an institution in the top 100 for the first time. Universidad de Buenos Aires (85th) occupies the highest rank ever achieved by a university from the region.

74,651 academics and 37,781 employers contributed to the rankings through the QS global surveys, the largest of their kind. QS analyzed 10.3 million research papers and 66.3 million citations, indexed by Elsevier's Scopus database. Over 3,800 institutions were considered for inclusion and 916 ranked.

© QS Quacquarelli Symonds 2004-2016 topuniversities.com

Ben Sowter, head of research at QS, said: “This year’s rankings imply that levels of investment are determining who progresses and who regresses. Institutions in countries that provide high levels of targeted funding, whether from endowments or from the public purse, are rising. On the other hand, some Western European nations making or proposing cuts to public research spending are losing ground to their US and Asian counterparts.”

The rankings include 916 universities from 81 countries. Thirty-three countries feature in the Top 200. The US dominate, with 48 institutions, ahead of the UK (30), Netherlands (12), Germany (11), Canada, Australia (9), Japan (8), China (7), France, Sweden and Hong Kong (5).  

The full QS World University Rankings for 2016-2017 can be found here.

-Ends-

To request country-specific press releases, please contact the QS Press Office:

Simona Bizzozero
Head of Public Relations
QS Quacquarelli Symonds
simona@qs.com
pressoffice@qs.com
@qs_pressoffice
+ 44(0)7880620856
+44 (0) 2072847248

Jack N. Moran
PR Executive
QS Quacquarelli Symonds
jack@qs.com
pressoffice@qs.com
@JackNathanMoran

Notes for editors

QS World University Rankings®

The QS World University Rankings is an annual league table of the top universities in the world and is arguably the best-known and respected ranking of its kind. Compiled by the QS Intelligence Unit in close consultation with an international advisory board of leading academics, the QS World University Rankings® is widely referenced by prospective and current students, university professionals and governments worldwide. The purpose of the rankings has been to recognize universities as the multi-faceted organisations they are and to provide a global comparison of their success against their notional mission of becoming or remaining world-class. The QS World University Rankings are based on four key pillars, research, teaching, employability and internationalisation and the methodology consists of six indicators: academic reputation (40%), employer reputation (10%), faculty student ratio (20%), citations per faculty (20%), international students (5%), and international faculty (5%).

http://content.qs.com/qsiu/Faculty_Area_Normalization_-_Technical_Explanation.pdf

Key facts and figures

•74,651 academics and 37,781 employers’ responses contributed towards the results, making both surveys the largest of their kind in the world.
•Over 3,800 institutions were considered for inclusion this year and 916 ranked, 25 more than in 2015.
•10.3 million papers indexed by the the Scopus/Elsevier bibliometric database were analyzed, and 66.3 million citations counted, which amounted to 50.4 million citations once self-citations were excluded.

QS Intelligence Unit www.iu.qs.com

QS has been conducting research in a range of areas since 1990, beginning with a global survey of MBA employers. The QS World University Rankings®, the most established of the range of research projects that QS operates, have been in existence since 2004. To meet the increasing public interest for comparative data on universities and organisations, and the growing demand for institutions to develop deeper insight into their competitive environment, the QS Intelligence Unit (QSIU) was formed in 2008 as a distinct and autonomous department. Committed to the key values of rigorous integrity, unique insight, undeniable value and accessible presentation, QSIU strives to be the most trusted independent source of global intelligence on the higher education sector.

Ben Sowter

Sowter is the head of research at the QS Intelligence Unit. He holds a BSc in Computer Science from the University of Nottingham, where he was also awarded the Union Prize for outstanding contribution to the student union and served as chairman of the Nottingham University Debating Society. Ben is fully responsible for the operational management of all major QS research projects and is actively involved in all the collection, compilation and tabulation of all the data that lead to, amongst others, the QS World University Rankings research with which he has been involved since its initial inception in 2004. A frequent contributor to the press, Ben’s opinion on global education trends and his expertise is used regularly by major global publications

About Scopus

Scopus is the largest abstract and citation database of peer-reviewed literature and features tools to track, analyse and visualize scholarly research. Its comprehensive database contains 55+ million items indexed from 21,000 titles from more than 5,000 publishers worldwide, ensuring broad interdisciplinary coverage in the fields of science, technology, medicine, social sciences and arts and humanities. Scopus was designed and developed with input from researchers and librarians and features direct links to subscribed full-text articles, other library resources and interoperability with applications such as reference management software. Scopus is part of the Elsevier Research Intelligence portfolio which includes the SciVal tools, the Pure system, rich data assets and custom Analytical Services.

About Elsevier

Elsevier is a world-leading provider of information solutions that enhance the performance of science, health, and technology professionals, empowering them to make better decisions, deliver better care, and sometimes make groundbreaking discoveries that advance the boundaries of knowledge and human progress. Elsevier provides web-based, digital solutions – among them ScienceDirect, Scopus, Elsevier Research Intelligence and ClinicalKey – and publishes over 2,500 journals, including The Lancet and Cell, and more than 33,000 book titles, including a number of iconic reference works. Elsevier is part of RELX Group plc, a world-leading provider of information solutions for professional customers across industries.

Global impact of the QS World University Rankings

IREG approval

QS Quacquarelli Symonds is the first compiler of global and regional university rankings to receive the “IREG Approved” label for three of its research outputs. The Observatory on Academic Rankings and Excellence (IREG) Executive Committee, at its meeting in Warsaw on 15th May 2013, decided to grant to QS the rights to use the “IREG Approved” label in relation to the following three rankings: QS World University Rankings, QS University Rankings: Asia, and QS University Rankings: Latin America. More information on its correct usage is available here.

The Global Innovation Index (GII)

The QS World University Rankings has been used as one of the indicators for the GII since 2013. The QS ranking is the only ranking of its kind to be used for the study. The GII is co-published by Cornell University, INSEAD and the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO, a specialized agency of the United Nations). The annual report consists of a ranking of world economies’ innovation capabilities and results.

The Bank of Communications Sea Turtle Index

The Bank of Communications Sea Turtle Index was developed and produced by The Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), which benchmarks the potential returns – academic, financial, and social – on an international undergraduate education in 80 cities worldwide. These were chosen first by clustering the top 300 universities from the QS World University Rankings into major cities, allowing for richer data and greater regional diversity in results. EIU analysts then used OECD statistics on the percentage of international students going to each country to decide on the number of cities to feature per country.

学生们在申请研究生院时经常掉入的一个常见陷阱就是背景研究不足! 考虑到大多数研究生学位的昂贵和耗时的性质，你真的有责任为自己在选择课程和整合申请时做出一个明智的和经过深思熟虑的决定。从我们列出的申请研究生院时需要研究的七个关键领域开始吧。

1. 就业前景

对许多人来说，研究生学位也是一个发展专业知识和人脉关系的机会，这些知识和人脉关系是启动职业生涯、提升级别或进入一个新领域所必需的。从长远来看，通过停下来考虑您的所有选择，可以为您节省时间。对你来说，什么是最重要的？收入？灵活性？ 工作保障？你的兴趣是什么？你梦想的工作是什么？你理想的就业前景和收入潜力是怎样的？其实你可能会发现，虽然你完成了电影研究的文学士学位，但你其实--内心深处真的渴望成为一名环境记者或说客。哪种研究生学位可以帮助你达到这个目标？

2. 师资

这一点怎么强调都不过分。研究院系，查找一些系里关键人物发表的研究报告，可以帮助你弄清楚一所大学是否适合你，也可以帮助你在个人陈述和面试中赢得招生官的青睐。 虽然大学应该保持完全的中立性和学术性，但不同的院系确实偏爱不同的方法论、理论框架和对其领域的看法。他们也有不同的关注领域，体现在教师的专长方面。在研究研究生院时，一定要选择一个与自己的学术和专业兴趣匹配度高的系。

3. 设施

根据你的研究项目和学科，你可能需要接触到各种技术或图书馆的特殊藏书。研究这些设施将帮助你决定是否选择X学校而不是Y学校，以及在申请中提出令人信服的理由。在申请研究生院时，你要尽可能地具体和集中，这绝对是至关重要的，参考专业设施将帮助你实现这一目标。

4. 地理位置

您需要以正确的心态来应对学术界向您提出的所有挑战。确保你为你的研究生学位选择一个最好的城市--一个有利于工作、娱乐、负担得起的生活和找工作的地方--将大大有助于你确保幸福和表现出你最好的一面! 你可能想看看2016年QS最佳学生城市，它根据雇主活动、可负担性、称心程度、学生组合和大学排名等综合因素对世界最佳学生城市进行排名。

5. 费用与资金

学费和资助机会因国家而异。有些国家，如德国或瑞典，提供免费的学费；而其他留学目的地，如英国或美国，则对其世界知名的项目收取高昂的费用--在某些情况下，全额学费减免、奖学金和助学金可以抵消一部分学生的费用。因此，在申请研究生院之前，要确保自己能够负担得起，并且有一个万无一失的资金行动计划。你可不想因为钱用完了而发现自己无法完成学位!  

6. 课程结构

每个大学都会实施自己的课程结构和阅读清单，一种课程结构可能更符合你的兴趣。看看网上课程描述中概述的教学大纲。也许值得给课程负责人或其他教师发一封邮件询问，以便更好地了解课程的理论框架和整体结构。

7. 教学和评估方法       

一些研究生学位主要是教学，为课程结束后的研究项目做铺垫，而其他研究生学位从一开始就非常注重独立研究。你需要弄清楚哪种教学和评估方法更适合你。您需要定期与导师和同行接触的时间，还是您是独行侠/独立研究者？您是否更喜欢在课堂上与同伴进行更多时间的交流？评估方法是什么？您是自信的应试者还是喜欢做课业？

获得关于研究生院的个人答案

如果你想在申请研究生院之前获得更多的个人建议，请留意QS世界研究生院巡展--即将在你附近的城市举行。这是一个很好的机会，可以与来自世界各地的研究生院代表会面，参加免费的研讨会，并在一个地方得到所有问题的解答。你也将有资格申请专属的研究生奖学金。

由IULM University赞助

数字化转型已经影响到了商业的每一个领域，当然，旅游业也不例外! 从预订到机上营销再到社交广告，旅游数字营销在目前正经历着巨大的增长。

在旅游业的数字营销中工作，可能意味着你不再处理乏味的产品，如汽水或华丽的运动鞋，而是使用复杂的技术来推广世界各地令人惊叹的目的地和体验。

以下是旅游数字营销是下一个大事件的三个原因，以及是什么让这个职业如此吸引人。

1. 新的数字趋势的不断涌现

数字营销是不断发展的。仅仅在十年前，仅仅拥有一个网站的事实就被认为是数字营销的举措，是完全自主的营销活动战略的一个附加部分。现在，显然不再是这样了。数字营销是每个明智的公司的营销和销售战略的核心。它也应该是这样。现在，比以往任何时候都更有潜力利用数字趋势、智能手机的使用和社交媒体来推广目的地和服务。越来越多的公司正在寻求挖掘移动通信的无限潜力，以及像Pokémon Go这样的应用程序的惊人的炒作因素，事实上，目的地营销人员已经在尝试将该应用程序整合到他们的营销组合中。

2. 数据、数据、数据。

如果你有一个分析的头脑，那么旅游数字营销肯定是适合你的 现代营销人员花费了大量的时间和精力，试图了解和适应客户的行为。数据是当今数字营销战略的主要驱动力，因为营销人员可以获得更多关于消费者及其购物习惯的信息，并且由于快速发展的技术，能够同时收集和使用关于客户的智能洞察力，以便为他们提供正确的服务。这不仅仅是寻找对你的目的地感兴趣的客户，也是为了能够针对你的广告，向正确的人提供正确的服务--这要感谢社会广告

3. 创造和策划鼓舞人心的内容

旅游数字营销不只是简单的数据分析。它也是关于创造伟大的内容来激励旅游者和建立客户参与。它最终是要与客户建立强有力的联系，以促进品牌参与，并在一个人最重要的年度选择中尽量减少风险：在哪里度过他或她辛苦赚来的假期......

在旅游数字营销领域开启你的职业生涯

为了提高你的职业机会，并在该领域开始一个辉煌的职业生涯，请移步米兰，利用IULM大学的酒店和旅游管理硕士学位......该硕士学位提供了在线旅游和数字营销的专业选择。该课程为期一年，完全用英语授课，包括6个月参加由主要旅游公司专业人士主持的必修课，另外6个月在意大利或国外的大学500多家国际合作公司之一进行实习。

新设立的QS本科生奖学金现已开始接受申请，将向在国际排名靠前的大学攻读本科学位的优秀学生提供最高1万美元的奖励。

该奖项是QS奖学金计划的新成员，该计划每年为全球学生提供总计170万美元的资助。QS奖学金计划以前主要针对研究生教育（包括硕士、博士和MBA项目），现在则扩大到支持本科生。

获奖者将获得高达10,000美元的奖学金，以帮助其支付所选大学的学费。

谁可以申请？

QS本科生奖学金对任何国籍、任何学术领域的学生开放。主要条件是申请者必须被QS世界大学排名®、QS世界大学学科排名、QS世界大学院系排名或QS大学地区排名中的大学录取。

如何申请

为了申请QS本科生奖学金，你必须填写QS申请人调查表，并提交一篇短文（500字），重点介绍一位迄今为止对你的生活产生过重大影响的励志人物。这篇论文可以聚焦于一个鼓舞人心的家庭成员、朋友、老师或其他专业人士，或者一个著名人物（过去或现在）。它还应该概述您的学术和职业抱负，解释您所选择的励志人物是如何帮助塑造这些抱负的。

第一轮申请的截止日期为2017年4月30日。

The 2016-17 edition of the QS World University Rankings® will be published on 6 September 2016 – expanded to feature over 900 universities this year. Now approaching its thirteenth installation, the ranking provides an annual league table of the world’s leading higher education institutions, currently topped by the US’s Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

While primarily created with the aim of aiding prospective international students, the ranking is also consulted by institutions, governments and other organizations with an interest in international higher education – providing a useful tool for benchmarking, comparison and goal-setting.

The ranking considers universities’ performance across six indicators, selected to reflect research impact, commitment to high-quality teaching, internationalization, and global reputation amongst both academics and employers.

Competitors for the top spot

The 2015-16 edition of the QS World University Rankings saw MIT retain its place at the top for the fourth consecutive year, having stolen the lead from the UK’s University of Cambridge in 2012-13. The only other institution to have led the list is Harvard University, currently second, which held the top spot between 2004 and 2009.

These three leading institutions are currently joined in the global top 10 by Stanford University (joint third with Cambridge), California Institute of Technology (Caltech), the University of Oxford, UCL (University College London), Imperial College London, ETH Zurich – Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, and the University of Chicago.

Though the top of the table remains largely dominated by universities in the US and UK, there is increasing diversity of representation – with rapidly rising Asian universities in particular proving that it is possible to climb the ladder. In the latest edition, the National University of Singapore and its country-mate Nanyang Technological University are both within the top 15, while China’s Tsinghua University is 25^th.

Of the 82 countries represented in the last edition, however, the lion’s share is still claimed by the US (154 ranked universities), followed by the UK (71), Germany (43) and France (41). Other well-represented nations include Japan (38), Australia (33), China (30), Canada and Italy (26 each), Brazil (22) and Russia (21).

Could this year be time for a change at the top? Be the first to get the new results by signing up receive email updates, following us on Twitter, or downloading the free rankings app – available for iPhone and Android.

University rankings are increasingly part of the process of choosing a university. But what do rankings really mean, and how should you use them? Watch our short video to find out how university rankings can help you find your ideal university, and take a glimpse behind the scenes at the making of the rankings.

Video by Kai Song for TopUniversities.com