Here Are The Top 15 Universities In The World!

Added on 25 October 2016, 02:15, Updated on 2 November 2016, 14:26

The Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2016-2017 listed the 980 top universities in the world. According to many experts, it is one of the most reliable global university performance tables to judge world class universities across all of their core missions – teaching, research, knowledge transfer and international outlook.

Most of the universities in this list did not surprise us at all, but it may come as a surprise to many to see that the world's best university is NOT in the US!

Source: https://www.timeshighereducation.com/wor...

15. University College London, United Kingdom

www.bcie.co.uk

University College London (UCL) is a public research university in London, England and a constituent college of the federal University of London. It is the largest postgraduate institution in the UK by enrollment and is regarded as one of the world's leading multidisciplinary research universities.

Established in 1826 as London University by founders inspired by the radical ideas of Jeremy Bentham, UCL was the first university institution to be established in London, and the first in England to be entirely secular and to admit students regardless of their religion.

CL's graduates are ranked among the most employable in the world by international employers and its alumni include the "Father of the Nation" of each of India, Kenya and Mauritius, the founders of Ghana, modern Japan and Nigeria, the inventor of the telephone, and one of the co-discoverers of the structure of DNA. UCL academics have discovered five of the naturally-occurring noble gases, co-discovered hormones, invented the vacuum tube, and made several foundational advances in modern statistics. There are at least 29 Nobel Prize winners and 3 Fields medalists amongst UCL's alumni and current and former staff.

14. University of California, Los Angeles, United States

upload.wikimedia.org

The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public research university in the Westwood district of Los Angeles, California, United States. It became the Southern Branch of the University of California in 1919, making it the second-oldest undergraduate campus of the ten-campus system after the original University of California campus in Berkeley (1873). It offers 337 undergraduate and graduate degree programs in a wide range of disciplines.

The university has a significant impact in the Los Angeles economy. It is the fifth largest employer in the county and the seventh largest in the region.

13. University of Pennsylvania, United States

upload.wikimedia.org

Given its status as one of the nine original Colonial Colleges – institutions established before the US became a sovereign nation after the American Revolution – and a founding member of the Association of American Universities, it is no surprise the University of Pennsylvania (Penn) claims to be the first fully fledged (multi-faculty) “university” in the USA.

The university has an exhaustive list of notable alumni from all walks of life. Penn has affiliations with over 25 Nobel Laureates including physicist Raymond Davis Jr and economist Lawrence Klein, and has accounted for numerous heads of state. Ninth president of the USA, William Henry Harrison, trod the boards at Penn in 1791, while Nnamdi Azikiwe – former president of Nigeria – and Kwame Nkrumah – former prime minister and president of Ghana – both gained multiple degrees from the institution. Noted modernist poets and friends Ezra Pound and William Carlos Williams are among the literary luminaries from the institution.

12. Yale University, United States

static01.nyt.com

Yale University is a private Ivy League research university which is the third-oldest higher education institution in the US.

Yale traces its history back to 1701, when it was founded as the Collegiate School in Saybrook, Connecticut, which moved to New Haven 15 years later.

Unusually for the US, Yale students are housed in residential colleges on the model of the universities of Oxford and Cambridge. There are 12 historic colleges, and construction of two more started in 2014.

Around one in five students is international, and more than half of all undergraduates receive scholarships or grants from the university.

11. University of Chicago, United States

i.huffpost.com

The University of Chicago came to life in the twilight of the 19th century, with the state of Illinois issuing its official certificate of incorporation in September 1890.

This vision has been at the core of Chicago’s existence, enshrined in its motto: Crescat scientia; vita excolatur (“Let knowledge grow from more to more; and so be human life enriched”). The university has lived up to this by being at the forefront of major academic endeavor and discovery. It has connections to more than 80 Nobel laureates, 30 National Medal winners (across humanities, arts and science) and nine Fields Medalists. It has also been awarded nearly 50 MacArthur “genius grants.”

10. University of California, Berkeley, United States

dmdkdk.files.wordpress.com

The University of California, Berkeley, a public research university, is regarded as one of the most prestigious state universities in the US. Part of the University of California System, it was founded in 1868.

Berkeley’s creation stemmed from a vision in the state constitution of a university that would “contribute even more than California’s gold to the glory and happiness of advancing generations.”

Berkeley faculty have won 19 Nobel prizes, mostly in physics, chemistry and economics. Recent winners include Saul Perlmutter, who won the 2011 Nobel Prize for Physics for leading a team that discovered the accelerating expansion of the universe, suggesting the existence of a form of dark energy that comprises 75 per cent of the universe; and George Akerlof, who won the 2001 Prize for Economics for demonstrating how markets malfunction when buyers and sellers have access to different information.

Notable alumni include novelist and journalist Jack London, Oscar-winning actor Gregory Peck, former prime minister and president of Pakistan Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, author Joan Didion and Women’s World Cup-winning US footballer Alex Morgan.

Berkeley has a tradition as a center of political activism. During the 1960s and 1970s, the campus was a hotbed for student protests against the Vietnam War.

9. ETH Zurich – Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich, Switzerland

www.smi.ethz.ch

Established in 1855 as the Federal Polytechnic School, a century and a half later ETH Zurich is now considered among some of the world's most prestigious universities in science and technology.

The institute has produced over 20 Nobel Prize Laureates, including the father of modern physics and the inventor of the general theory of relativity Albert Einstein.

The university, commonly known as Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich or Poly for short, has based its success on Swiss traditions of cherishing fundamental principles of freedom, individual responsibility, entrepreneurial spirit and open-minded approach to education. It remains a European research pioneer, which tries to offer practical solutions, which address worldwide challenges.

8. Imperial College London, United Kingdom

upload.wikimedia.org

Imperial College London, a science-based institution based in the center of the capital, is regarded as one of the UK’s leading institutions.

The institution boasts 14 Nobel Prize winners, including Sir Alexander Fleming, the discoverer of penicillin.

Famous alumni include science fiction author H.G. Wells, Queen guitarist Brian May, former prime minister of India Rajiv Gandhi, former UK chief medical officer Sir Liam Donaldson, and former chief executive of Singapore Airlines Chew Choon Seng.

The college’s motto is Scientia imperii decus et tutamen, which translates as “Scientific knowledge, the crowning glory and the safeguard of the empire.”

7. Princeton University, United States

bestusauniversity.com

Princeton is one of the oldest universities in the US and is regarded as one of the world’s most illustrious higher education institutions.

Princeton is also one of the world’s foremost research universities with connections to more than 40 Nobel laureates, 17 winners of the National Medal of Science and five recipients of the National Humanities Medal.

Faculty members who have been awarded a Nobel prize in recent years include chemists Tomas Lindahl and Osamu Shimomura, economists Paul Krugman and Angus Deaton and physicists Arthur McDonald and David Gross.

Notable alumni who have won a Nobel prize include the physicists Richard Feynman and Robert Hofstadter and chemists Richard Smalley and Edwin McMillan.

6. Harvard University, United States

www.fortuneturkey.com

Dating back to 1636, Harvard University is the oldest university in the US and is regarded as one of the most prestigious in the world.

The private Ivy League institution has connections to more than 45 Nobel laureates, over 30 heads of state and 48 Pulitzer prizewinners. It has more than 323,000 living alumni, including over 271,000 in the US and nearly 52,000 in 201 other countries. Thirteen US presidents have honorary degrees from the institution; the most recent of these was awarded to John F. Kennedy in 1956.

Faculty members who have been awarded a Nobel prize in recent years include chemist Martin Karplus and economist Alvin Roth, while notable alumni who were given the honor include former US vice-president Al Gore, who won the Peace Prize in 2007, and poet Seamus Heaney, who was a professor at Harvard from 1981 to 1997.

5. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, United States

images.adsttc.com

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is an independent, coeducational, private research university based in the city of Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Established in 1861, MIT aims to ‘further knowledge and prepare students in science, technology and other fields of study that will best benefit the nation and the world today.’ Its motto is Mens et Manus, which translates as “Mind and Hand.”

The university lays claim to 85 Nobel Laureates, 58 National Medal of Science winners, 29 National Medal of Technology and Innovation winners and 45 MacArthur Fellows. Among its impressive alumni is Kofi Annan, former secretary-general of the United Nations.

Scientific discoveries and technological advances accredited to MIT include the first chemical synthesis of penicillin, the development of radar, the discovery of quarks, and the invention of magnetic core memory, which enabled the development of digital computers.

4. University of Cambridge, United Kingdom

www.planetware.com

Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is a collegiate public research institution. Its 800-year history makes it the fourth-oldest surviving university in the world and the second-oldest university in the English-speaking world.

Cambridge University Press is a non-school institution and operates as the university’s publishing business. With over 50 offices worldwide, its publishing list is made up of 45,000 titles spanning academic research, professional development, research journals, education and bible publishing.

In total, 92 affiliates of the university have been awarded Nobel Prizes, covering every category.

3. Stanford University, United States

stanford.edu

Stanford University has one of the largest campuses in the US and is one of the most prestigious universities in the world.

It was established in 1885 and opened six years later as a co-educational and non-denominational private institution.

Stanford counts 21 Nobel laureates within its community, and numerous famous alumni associated with the university from the worlds of business, politics, media, sport and technology.

The 31st president of the US, Herbert Hoover, was part of the very first class at Stanford, and received a degree in geology in 1895. Currently, Stanford is also one of the leading producers of US Congress members.

2. California Institute of Technology, United States

i2.cdn.turner.com

The California Institute of Technology (Caltech) is a world-renowned science and engineering research and education institution, where extraordinary faculty and students seek answers to complex questions, discover new knowledge, lead innovation, and transform our future.

The mission of the California Institute of Technology is to expand human knowledge and benefit society through research integrated with education.

Founded as Throop University in 1891 in Pasadena, California, and renamed the California Institute of Technology in 1920.

1. University of Oxford, United Kingdom

i.huffpost.com

The University of Oxford is the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the world’s second oldest surviving university. While its exact founding date is unknown, there is evidence that teaching took place as far back as 1096.

The university is associated with 11 winners of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry, five in physics and 16 in medicine. Notable Oxford thinkers and scientists include Tim Berners-Lee, Stephen Hawking and Richard Dawkins. The actors Hugh Grant and Rosamund Pike also went to Oxford, as did the writers Oscar Wilde, Graham Greene, Vikram Seth and Philip Pullman.

As a modern, research-driven university, Oxford has numerous strengths but cites particular prowess in the sciences, having recently ranked number one in the world for medicine and among the top ten universities globally for life sciences, physical sciences, social sciences, and the arts and humanities.

How do you feel?