The best universities in the world are known for their academic accomplishments, scholarly excellence and intellectual firepower. They are also recognized for their ability to transform students into successful entrepreneurs and influential leaders in their fields.
The Times Higher Education (THE) World University Rankings 2023 feature 1,799 universities from 104 countries and regions. They are based on 13 performance indicators, ranging from teaching to research to knowledge transfer and international outlook.
U.S. News & World Report
College students and their families can find a wealth of information about universities by checking out U.S. News & World Report’s annual Best Colleges rankings.
The publication uses 17 metrics of academic quality to evaluate 1,500 bachelor’s degree-granting colleges and universities, including outcomes (such as social mobility and graduation rates), faculty resources, student selectivity, reputational assessment by peers and guidance counselors, financial resources and alumni giving.
National Liberal Arts Colleges continue to have strong representation in this year’s ranking, with Williams College again ranked first and Amherst College following in second place. MIT and Harvard also remain among the top schools in this category.
Times Higher Education
Times Higher Education (THE) has released its World University Rankings 2023, which includes a record 1,799 universities from 104 countries and regions. This is 137 more than last year and the largest edition of the rankings in the 19-year history of the publication.
The top 100 is dominated by American institutions but international colleges are also making inroads. This is a trend that is driven by the growing global demand for higher education and the increased number of countries bending entry laws and introducing student-friendly policies to attract students from around the world.
This is a shift that is fuelling a new renaissance in higher education and research. It also provides a valuable barometer for governments and university leaders to measure the impact of their strategies.
U-Multirank
U-Multirank is a new international university ranking based on data from more than 2,200 institutions. It compares universities in five different areas – teaching and learning, research, knowledge transfer, international orientation and regional engagement.
The first rankings were published in 2014. They include an overall institutional rank and field-based rankings, based on specific disciplines.
It is a multi-dimensional and user-driven system that looks at five different areas: teaching and learning, research, knowledge transfer, regional engagement and international orientation. It allows users to create their own personalized rankings by selecting indicators that are most important to them.
The aim of the project is to provide a global, transparent tool that does not constrain institutional diversity but promotes benchmarking and competition. This is achieved only if as many institutions as possible participate.
QS World University Rankings
Founded in 2004, QS World University Rankings ranks the best universities worldwide. The rankings are based on surveying academics and employers, measuring research performance and using data from Elsevier’s Scopus database.
The rankings are published by Quacquarelli Symonds, an educational and careers advice firm. It has collaborated with Times Higher Education (THE) to publish international league tables since 2004.
This year’s rankings are dominated by the US, with 135 institutions making it onto the list. The UK boasts 67 institutions and Germany 39. Mainland China has the third-largest number of institutions on the list, with 11 making it into the top 100.
