Rankings of the Best Global Universities in 2024

Rankings of the Best Global Universities in 2024

These universities from the United States and more than 90 other nations were ranked using 13 parameters to assess their academic research performance as well as their global and regional reputations. These rankings can be used by students to examine higher education options outside of their home countries and to compare significant components of schools' research goals. These are the top 1,750 universities in the world.

Harvard University

United States|Cambridge (U.S.)

Cambridge, MA 02138 United States|

#1 in Best Global Universities

Summary

Harvard University is the oldest higher education institution in the United States, having been founded in 1636. The majority of Harvard's students are graduate students, with international students accounting for more than 20% of the student body.

Harvard University is centred in Cambridge, Massachusetts, although it also maintains facilities in Boston, such as the Harvard Medical School. The university boasts the world's largest endowment of any university. More than 100 centres at Harvard conduct research across a wide range of topics.

The university is made up of 11 degree-granting colleges, including the highly ranked Business School, Graduate School of Education, Law School, and John F. Kennedy School of Government. Several teaching hospitals, notably Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Brigham and Women's Hospital, are linked with the medical school. The most common majors among Harvard undergraduates are social sciences, biology/biological sciences, history, math, and psychology.

The academic calendar at the university is semester-based, and English is the language of instruction. Most undergraduate students live on campus for their entire four years, initially in one of 12 undergraduate homes near Harvard Yard in the heart of campus as freshmen, and then in one of 12 undergraduate houses for the rest of their studies.

Graduate students have access to some university residences. The Harvard Library is the world's biggest academic library, with over 70 libraries housing about 19 million books.

Data from the University

Total number of students

21,575

Number of international students

5,264

Total number of academic staff

2,298

Number of international staff

527

Number of undergraduate degrees awarded

1,824

Number of master's degrees awarded

4,894

Number of doctoral degrees awarded

1,573

Number of research only staff

2,080

Number of new undergraduate students

1,671

Number of new master's students

3,598

Number of new doctoral students

1,480

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

77 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02139 United States|

#2 in Best Global Universities

Summary

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, near Boston, that was founded in 1861. Approximately 11,000 students attend the university, with roughly 60% of them pursuing graduate degrees. Architecture and planning, engineering, humanities, arts, and social sciences, management, and science are the five schools at MIT. At MIT, the language of instruction is English.

With a four-week "Independent Activities Period" in January, the academic calendar is a 4-1-4 scheme. Undergraduate and graduate students, professors, staff, and alumni attend forums, lecture series, recitals, and other special events during this time.

Although only first-year undergraduate students are expected to live on campus, many students who are farther along in their studies choose to do so. Both undergraduate and graduate students can obtain research experience at one of MIT's many labs or centres, such as the MIT Nuclear Reactor Laboratory, which is one of the country's largest university research reactors.

By the time they graduate, nearly 90% of MIT undergraduates have participated in the school's Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program, which pairs students with faculty for research projects. In the most recent fiscal year, MIT spent more than $675 million on research, with extra federal funding flowing to MIT's Lincoln Laboratory, a Department of Defense research and development centre focusing on cybersecurity.

Stanford University

Stanford, CA 94305 United States|

#3 in Best Global Universities

Stanford University

Stanford, CA 94305 United States|

#3 in Best Global Universities

University of California--Berkeley

110 Sproul Hall, Berkeley, CA 94720-5800 United States|

#4 in Best Global Universities

University of Oxford

Wellington Square, Oxford OX1 2JD United Kingdom|

#5 in Best Global Universities

Columbia University

2960 Broadway, New York, NY 10027 United States|

#6 in Best Global Universities

University of Washington

Seattle, WA 98195 United States|

#7 in Best Global Universities

University of Cambridge

Trinity Lane, Cambridge CB2 1TN United Kingdom|

#8 in Best Global Universities

California Institute of Technology

1200 E. California Boulevard, Pasadena, CA 91125 United States|

#9 in Best Global Universities (tie)

Johns Hopkins University

3400 N. Charles Street, Baltimore, MD 21218 United States|

#9 in Best Global Universities (tie)

University of California--San Francisco

500 Parnassus Ave, San Francisco, CA 94143 United States|

#11 in Best Global Universities

Yale University

New Haven, CT 06520 United States|

#12 in Best Global Universities

University of Pennsylvania

Philadelphia, PA 19104 United States|

#13 in Best Global Universities

University of California--Los Angeles

405 Hilgard Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90095 United States|

#14 in Best Global Universities

University of Chicago

5801 S. Ellis Avenue, Chicago, IL 60637 United States|

#15 in Best Global Universities

Princeton University

Princeton, NJ 08544 United States|

#16 in Best Global Universities (tie)

University of Michigan--Ann Arbor

500 S. State St. , Ann Arbor, MI 48109 United States|

#19 in Best Global Universities

Imperial College London

Exhibition Road, London SW7 2AZ United Kingdom|

#20 in Best Global Universities

University of California--San Diego

9500 Gilman Drive, La Jolla, CA 92093 United States|

#21 in Best Global Universities

Cornell University

Ithaca, NY 14853 United States|

#22 in Best Global Universities

Duke University

Durham, NC 27708 United States|

#23 in Best Global Universities

Northwestern University

633 Clark Street, Evanston, IL 60208 United States|

#24 in Best Global Universities

University of Melbourne

1-100 Grattan St, Parkville, Victoria 3010 Australia|

#25 in Best Global Universities

Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich

Rämistrasse 101, Zurich CH-8092 Switzerland|

#26 in Best Global Universities (tie)

Tsinghua University

Beijing 100084 China|

#27 in Best Global Universities (tie)

University of Sydney

Sydney, New South Wales 2006 Australia|

#28 in Best Global Universities

National University of Singapore

21 Lower Kent Ridge Road, Singapore 119077 Singapore|

#29 in Best Global Universities

New York University

70 Washington Square S, New York, NY 10012 United States|

#30 in Best Global Universities

Washington University in St. Louis

1 Brookings Drive, St. Louis, MO 63130 United States|

#31 in Best Global Universities

University of Edinburgh

Old College, South Bridge, Edinburgh, Scotland EH8 9YL United Kingdom|

#32 in Best Global Universities

King's College London

Strand, London WC2R 2LS United Kingdom|

#33 in Best Global Universities (tie)

Nanyang Technological University

50 Nanyang Avenue, Singapore 639798 Singapore|

#34 in Best Global Universities (tie)

University of British Columbia

1200-1874 E. Mall, Vancouver, British Columbia V6T 1Z4 Canada|

#35 in Best Global Universities

University of Queensland Australia

Brisbane, Queensland 4072 Australia|

#36 in Best Global Universities

University of Copenhagen

Nørregade 10, Copenhagen 1165 Denmark|

#37 in Best Global Universities

University of Amsterdam

Spui 21, Amsterdam 1012 WX Netherlands|

#38 in Best Global Universities

University of North Carolina--Chapel Hill

Chapel Hill, NC 27599 United States|

#39 in Best Global Universities

Monash University

Wellington Rd, Clayton, Victoria 3800 Australia|

#40 in Best Global Universities

University of New South Wales

High St., Kensington, New South Wales 2052 Australia|

#41 in Best Global Universities

University of New South Wales

High St., Kensington, New South Wales 2052 Australia|

#41 in Best Global Universities

University of Pittsburgh

4200 Fifth Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15260 United States|

#42 in Best Global Universities

University of Texas--Austin

Austin, TX 78712-1111 United States|

#43 in Best Global Universities

King Abdulaziz University

Abdullah Sulayman, Jeddah 21589 Saudi Arabia|

#44 in Best Global Universities

Peking University

No.5 Yiheyuan Road, Beijing 100871 China|

#45 in Best Global Universities

Sorbonne Universite

21, rue de l'Ecole-de-medecine, Paris 75006 France|

#46 in Best Global Universities (tie)

University of Munich

Geschwister-Scholl-Platz, Munich 80539 Germany|

#47 in Best Global Universities (tie)

Catholic University of Leuven

Oude Markt 13 - bus 5005, Leuven 3000 Belgium|

#48 in Best Global Universities (tie)

Karolinska Institute

Solnavägen 1, Solna, Stockholm SE-171 77 Sweden|

#49 in Best Global Universities (tie)

Utrecht University

P.O Box 80125, Utrecht 3508 TC Netherlands|

#50 in Best Global Universities (tie)

McGill University

845 Sherbrooke Street W, Montréal, Québec H3A 0G4 Canada|

#51 in Best Global Universities

Ohio State University--Columbus

154 W. 12th Avenue, Columbus, OH 43210 United States|

#52 in Best Global Universities (tie)

University of Wisconsin--Madison

500 Lincoln Drive, Madison, WI 53706 United States|

#52 in Best Global Universities (tie)

Heidelberg University

Grabengasse 1, Heidelberg 69117 Germany|

#54 in Best Global Universities

University of Minnesota--Twin Cities

100 Church Street SE, Minneapolis, MN 55455-0213 United States|

#55 in Best Global Universities

Australian National University

Canberra, Australian Capital Territory 0200 Australia|

#56 in Best Global Universities

Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai

1428 Madison Ave, New York, NY 10029 United States|

#57 in Best Global Universities

Georgia Institute of Technology

225 North Avenue NW, Atlanta, GA 30332 United States|

#58 in Best Global Universities (tie)

University of Manchester

Oxford Rd, Manchester M13 9PL United Kingdom|

#58 in Best Global Universities (tie)

Universite Paris Saclay

Espace Technologique, Bat. Discovery, Saint-Aubin 91190 France|

#59 in Best Global Universities (tie)

University of Maryland--College Park

College Park, MD 20742-5025 United States|

#60 in Best Global Universities (tie)

Erasmus University Rotterdam

Burgemeester Oudlaan 50, Rotterdam 3062 PA Netherlands|

#61 in Best Global Universities (tie)

University of Colorado--Boulder

Boulder, CO 80309 United States|

#62 in Best Global Universities (tie)

University of Zurich

Rämistrasse 71, Zürich CH-8006 Switzerland|

#63 in Best Global Universities

Boston University

1 Silber Way, Boston, MA 02215 United States|

#65 in Best Global Universities

University of Adelaide

North Terrace, Adelaide, South Australia 5005 Australia|

#66 in Best Global Universities

Université de Paris

85 boulevard Saint-Germain, Paris 75006 France|

#67 in Best Global Universities (tie)

University of California--Davis

1 Shields Avenue, Davis, CA 95616 United States|

#67 in Best Global Universities (tie)

University of California--Santa Barbara

Santa Barbara, CA 93106 United States|

#67 in Best Global Universities (tie)

École Polytechnique Federale of Lausanne

Route Cantonale, Lausanne CH-1015 Switzerland|

#70 in Best Global Universities (tie)

University of Southern California

University Park, Los Angeles, CA 90089 United States|

#70 in Best Global Universities (tie)

University of Illinois--Urbana-Champaign

601 E. John Street, Champaign, IL 61820-5711 United States|

#72 in Best Global Universities

Vanderbilt University

Nashville, TN 37240 United States|

#73 in Best Global Universities

Emory University

201 Dowman Drive, Atlanta, GA 30322 United States|

#74 in Best Global Universities (tie)

Technical University of Munich

Arcisstraße 21, Munich 80333 Germany|

#74 in Best Global Universities (tie)

University of Hong Kong

Pok Ful Lam Road, Pok Fu Lam, Hong Kong Hong Kong|

#76 in Best Global Universities

University of Tokyo

7-3-1 Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-0033 Japan|

#77 in Best Global Universities

Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin

Unter den Linden 6, Berlin 10099 Germany|

#78 in Best Global Universities (tie)

University of Western Australia

35 Stirling Highway, Crawley, Western Australia 6009 Australia|

#78 in Best Global Universities (tie)

Pennsylvania State University--University Park

201 Old Main, University Park, PA 16802 United States|

#80 in Best Global Universities (tie)

Wageningen University and Research Center

Droevendaalsesteeg 4, Wageningen 6708 PB Netherlands|

#80 in Best Global Universities (tie)

Chinese University Hong Kong

Shatin, New Territories Hong Kong|

#82 in Best Global Universities (tie)