The 10 best universities in the world, but this ranking says it's a little different
These are the world's best universities.
Image: REUTERS/Brian Snyder
Stay up to date:
Media, Entertainment and Sport
Harvard University again tops the list of the world's best universities, according to a new list from the Center for World University Rankings.
For the top 1,000 universities in the world, 224 are in the US, 90 are in China, 74 are in Japan, and 65 are in the United Kingdom.
CWUR uses eight indicators to determine its rankings, including quality of education, alumni employment, and influence. The organization also credits itself as the only ranking that doesn't rely on survey or university data.
See the top 10 universities in the world below:
No. 10 — Yale University
No. 9 — Princeton University
No. 8 — University of Chicago
No. 7 — University of California at Berkeley
No. 6 — Columbia University
No. 5 — University of Oxford (United Kingdom)
No. 4 — University of Cambridge (United Kingdom)
No. 3 — Massachusetts Institute of Technology
No. 2 — Stanford University
No. 1 — Harvard University
Don't miss any update on this topic
Create a free account and access your personalized content collection with our latest publications and analyses.
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.
Related topics:
Forum Stories newsletter
Bringing you weekly curated insights and analysis on the global issues that matter.
More on Education and SkillsSee all
Steven Sim
June 10, 2025
Natalia Kucirkova
June 10, 2025
Morgan Camp
June 6, 2025
Laura Henderson
June 4, 2025