Education and Skills

These are the world's best universities

The sign at Building 76 at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Cambridge, Massachusetts, U.S., November 21, 2018. Picture taken November 21, 2018.   To match Exclusive USA-CHINA/STUDENTS REUTERS/Brian Snyder - RC1ABE91BA80

Topping the charts. Image: REUTERS/Brian Snyder

Charlotte Edmond
Senior Writer, Forum Agenda

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology is the best university in the world for the eighth year running, according to research firm QS.

MIT leads the World University Rankings with a maximum score of 100, on the basis of a range of factors including academic reputation and performance of faculty and students.

The Boston-based university has long been recognised for its prowess in science, engineering and technology.

Image: World University Rankings

The rankings have changed very little year-on-year, with only a minor shuffling among the hierarchy in recent years. Stanford University came in second place, with a total score of 99.8, the survey showed.

Have you read?

The top tier continues to be dominated by Western institutions, particularly from the US and UK. ETH Zurich is the only university in the top 10 not from those two countries.

Singapore’s Nanyang Technological University and the National University of Singapore sit just outside the top 10. Asian players are increasingly featuring in academic rankings, as countries make more funding available for education.

Don't miss any update on this topic

Create a free account and access your personalized content collection with our latest publications and analyses.

Sign up for free

License and Republishing

World Economic Forum articles may be republished in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International Public License, and in accordance with our Terms of Use.

The views expressed in this article are those of the author alone and not the World Economic Forum.

Stay up to date:

Education

Related topics:
Education and SkillsLeadership
Share:
The Big Picture
Explore and monitor how Education is affecting economies, industries and global issues
A hand holding a looking glass by a lake
Crowdsource Innovation
Get involved with our crowdsourced digital platform to deliver impact at scale
World Economic Forum logo
Global Agenda

The Agenda Weekly

A weekly update of the most important issues driving the global agenda

Subscribe today

You can unsubscribe at any time using the link in our emails. For more details, review our privacy policy.

Systems thinking has great potential in education. Here are 5 ways to deliver it

Loida Flojo and Breanne Pitt

November 21, 2024

World's leading universities for interdisciplinary science revealed for the first time – the results may surprise you

About us

Engage with us

  • Sign in
  • Partner with us
  • Become a member
  • Sign up for our press releases
  • Subscribe to our newsletters
  • Contact us

Quick links

Language editions

Privacy Policy & Terms of Service

Sitemap

© 2024 World Economic Forum