U.S. News Releases Inaugural Best Global Universities Rankings

U.S. News & World Report, a leading U.S.-based publisher of education analysis and rankings, today unveiled the inaugural Best Global Universities rankings on usnews.com. The U.S. prevails as the global leader among research universities, with many U.S. universities dominating the list of top schools. Harvard University claims the No. 1 spot overall, followed by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology at No. 2 and the University of California—Berkeley at No. 3. Of the 500 institutions ranked, 134 are in the U.S. Germany follows with 42 schools, and the United Kingdom with 38 schools. China makes a strong showing, with 27 schools in the top 500.

The 2015 Best Global Universities rankings offer the most comprehensive assessment of research universities worldwide as well as by region and country. The overall rankings include 500 universities spread out across 49 countries. There are four regional rankings of the top universities in Asia, Australia/New Zealand, Europe and Latin America, as well as country-specific rankings highlighting the top schools in 11 countries, including Canada, China, France, Germany and Italy. The rankings also feature the top 100 global universities in 21 subject areas, including fields such as economics and business, engineering, computer science and clinical medicine.

U.S. News developed the Best Global Universities rankings to help students accurately compare schools worldwide. “Increasingly, students are enrolling in universities outside of their own countries,” said Brian Kelly, editor and chief content officer. “As higher education becomes more global, our new rankings will set standards and allow students to better evaluate all of their options.”

The Best Global Universities rankings – which are based on data and metrics provided by Thomson Reuters InCitesTM research analytics solutions – focus on institutions’ research overall. The methodology weighs factors that measure a university’s global and regional reputation; academic research performance using bibliometric indicators; and school-level data on faculty and Ph.D. graduates. Read the whole article.

This article was originally published on US News & World Report.