Global Universities Rankings

The 9th Annual World Top 20 Project’s Global Universities Rankings were conducted to evaluate the quality of education and training provided to students between the ages of 18 and 25. Additionally, the rankings assessed the economic and social impact of universities in promoting sustainable development in their respective countries.

In total, 500 universities were selected, meeting the World Top 20 project’s objectives which aim to improve a nation’s attainment and achievement levels towards establishing a knowledge-based workforce for the 21st century. These universities also prioritize the development of social skills that positively impact community development.

The selected universities were then ranked across eight global regions, including Africa, Asia, the Caribbean, Central America, Europe, Oceania, North America, and South America. The top 20 universities with the highest overall scores were chosen for the World Top 20 rankings.

The World Top 20 Universities Rankings for 2023

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1. Harvard University, USA
2. Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), USA
3. Stanford University, USA
4. University of Oxford, UK
5. University of Cambridge, UK
6. University of California, Berkeley, USA
7. California Institute of Technology (Caltech), USA
8. Columbia University, USA
9. Princeton University, USA
10. Yale University, USA
11. University of Pennsylvania, USA
12. University of Chicago, USA
13. John Hopkins University, USA
14. Imperial College London, UK
15. Washington State University, USA
16. University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), USA
17. ETH Zurich – Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, SWZ
18. UCL (University College London), UK
19. Cornell University, USA
20. University of Michigan, USA

For more information about each university, including graduation rates, employment rates, admission requirements, tuition costs, scholarship opportunities, international student aid, and news updates, visit the College Review Page.

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The 2023 Global Regional Rankings of the Top 5 Universities are:

Africa

1. University of Cape Town – South Africa
2. University of the Witwatersrand – South Africa
3. Stellenbosch University – South Africa
4. University of Cape Coast – Ghana
5. University of KwaZulu-Natal – South Africa

Asia

1. Tsinghua University – China
2. National University of Singapore – Singapore
3. The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology – Hong Kong
4. Peking University – China
5. The University of Tokyo – Japan

Caribbean

1. University of the West Indies – Jamaica
2. Universidad de Puerto Rico – Puerto Rico
3. University of Puerto Rico at Mayaguez – Puerto Rico
4. Universidad de la Habana – Cuba
5. University of Puerto Rico Rio Piedras – Puerto Rico

Central America

1. Universidad de Costa Rica – Costa Rica
2. Tecnológico de Costa Rica – TEC – Costa Rica
3. Universidad Nacional – Costa Rica
4. Universidad Latinoamericana de Ciencia y Tecnologia – Costa Rica
5. Universidad Tecnológica de Panamá

Europe

1. University of Oxford, UK
2. University of Cambridge, UK
3. Imperial College London, UK
4. UCL (University College London), UK
5. ETH Zurich – Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Switzerland

Oceania

1. The University of Melbourne – Australia
2. The University of Sydney – Australia
3. The University of Queensland – Australia
4. Monash University – Australia
5. The Australian National University – Australia

North America

1. Harvard University, USA
2. Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), USA
3. Stanford University, USA
4. California Institute of Technology (Caltech), USA
5. University of California, Berkeley, USA

South America

1. Universidade Federal de Sao Paulo – Brazil
2. Universidade Estadual de Campinas – Brazil
3. Pontificia Universidad Catoilca de Chile
4. Universidad de Buenos Aires – Argentina
5. Univeristy of Desarrollo – Chile

Feel free to comment on our selections and make recommendations if you have attended or currently attend any of these universities. You can reach out to us through our Twitter or Facebook accounts.

For the World Top 20 Graduate School Rankings, visit The World College Information Center.

To find countries that offer free college education and access tools to help prepare for college, visit the College Resource Center.

How Universities are Ranked – The Methodology

Two primary level indicators, Economics and Social Affairs, were used to rank the universities across various categories. Seven criteria were considered to measure each university’s strengths within these indicators. The criteria include Innovation, Research, Publications, Facilities, Teaching, Employability, and Social Responsibility.

Economic Indicators

1. Innovation (60%): Assessing the university’s output of activities and findings that contribute to the economy, society, and culture. This includes innovations that drive economic growth, sustains revolutionary products, and improves efficiency designs.
2. Research (30%): Evaluating the university’s global and regional academic reputation for research excellence, the impact of research publications, and the dissemination of new knowledge and ideas in the research community.
3. Publications (10%): Considering the number of scholarly papers published by the university in high-quality journals, including those that are highly cited in their respective fields.

Social Affairs Indicators

1. Facilities (15%): Examining the university’s learning and living environment, infrastructure, housing, IT, library, career development facilities, and the number of student societies.
2. Teaching (30%): Assessing the quality of faculty, including the number of faculty who have won major international awards and prizes. Student feedback on teaching quality, student faculty ratio, and study rates were also considered.
3. Employability (40%): Measuring the university’s success in producing work-ready graduates who are capable of working effectively in a multicultural environment, delivering presentations, managing people and projects, and holding leadership positions. This includes surveying employers, graduate employment rates, and career service support.
4. Social Responsibility (15%): Evaluating the university’s engagement in the local community, charity work, disaster relief, inclusiveness to students, scholarships, disability access, gender balance, low-income outreach, environmental awareness, and regional human capital development.

To calculate each university’s score, tables were created for both indicators, and criteria base scores were tallied on a scale of 1 to 5. The scores were then averaged for each indicator and combined to arrive at a final average score.

Data for the rankings were collected from institutions’ databases, educational publications, and the world’s top international higher education survey rankings.

Ratingperson is dedicated to providing comprehensive and reliable rankings of global universities.