Anita Narayan, On Tuesday October 18, 2011
Harvard University may be America's top-ranked national university, along with Princeton University, in
U.S.News & World Report's latest
Best Colleges rankings, but a competitor across the pond is now stealing some of that thunder.
For the second year in a row, the United Kingdom's University of Cambridge topped Harvard in the
U.S. News World's Best Universities rankings, released today and based on data from the 2011
QS World University Rankings. Developed by
QS Quacquarelli Symonds,
a leading global career and education network, the World's Best
rankings showcase the top international universities, from North and
South America to Europe and Asia and beyond.
Six distinct
indicators were evaluated to rank the
top 400 universities worldwide:
academic reputation, employer reputation, faculty-student ratio,
proportion of international faculty, proportion of international
students, and citations per faculty. The gap between Cambridge and
Harvard was incredibly small--a difference of about 0.7 points in their
overall scores--and can be attributed to Cambridge's more impressive
faculty-student ratio.
Despite Harvard falling slightly behind a
U.K. university, U.S. schools dominated the top 400 list, with six
American institutions appearing in the top 10 (Harvard, Massachusetts
Institute of Technology, Yale University, University of Chicago,
University of Pennsylvania, and Columbia University). The highest
showing by a non-American or non-British university was Canada's McGill
University, at No. 17. Asia's highest ranking came via University of
Hong Kong (HKU), at No. 22.
[See photos of the
top 10 World's Best Universities.]
A separate ranking of the
top 100 Asian universities
highlights the dynamism of the Asian region, where countries such as
China, South Korea, and India are investing heavily in higher education
to cater to both domestic and international students. This year, to
better reflect the region's unique character, a distinct methodology
from the top 400 global rankings was used, with indicators such as Asian
academic reputation and Asian employer review.
The leaders of the
pack came from Hong Kong, with Hong Kong University of Science and
Technology (HKUST) and HKU taking the first and second spots,
respectively. The gap between the two was very narrow--a difference of
0.2 points in their overall scores--with HKUST's research productivity
giving it the edge. Japan, whose economy is slowly recovering from the
devastating March 2011 earthquake and tsunami, was nonetheless dominant
in the Asian rankings, with five Japanese schools in the top 10.
Meanwhile,
China, the world's largest source for international students at U.S.
universities, made strides with its own schools. Peking University and
Tsinghua University were both among the top 20 best Asian universities,
performing very well in the academic and employer reputation indicators.
India didn't fare as well, due to low citations scores; its highest
entries were three Indian Institutes of Technology (IIT Kanpur, Delhi,
and Bombay) at No. 36, No. 37, and No. 38, respectively.
[Read about
Asian M.B.A. programs on the rise.]
Like
Asia, Latin America is undergoing significant development, propelled by
rising economic powerhouse Brazil. The country's Universidad de São
Paulo took the No. 1 spot in the
top 100 Latin American universities rankings,
beating Chile's Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile by 0.4 points
in its overall score. The new Latin rankings use a distinct methodology,
evaluating indicators such as Latin American academic reputation, Latin
American employer review, and proportion of staff with Ph.D.'s.
Brazil
was the clear leader, fielding three institutions in the top 10 and
eight in the top 20. The country's huge investments in higher education
to fuel economic growth, and its prioritization of research, have paid
off: Brazilian universities performed particularly well in measures such
as papers per faculty and proportion of academics with Ph.D.'s.
Meanwhile,
Mexico--with two institutions in the top 10 of the Latin
rankings--showcased strong reputations across the region, despite lower
performance in research measures for most of its universities. The
fifth-ranked Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM) had the
highest academic reputation, while seventh-ranked Tecnológico de
Monterrey (ITESM) had the second-highest employer reputation.
Going beyond global and regional comparisons, the new
World's Best Universities subject rankings
examine the top schools worldwide in 24 subjects (top 30 for chemical
engineering and top 50 for all other subjects). Divided into five broad
categories--arts and humanities; engineering and technology; life
sciences; natural sciences; and social sciences--the individual subject
rankings are based on academic reputation, employer reputation, and
citations per paper.
MIT dominated all engineering and technology
rankings, taking the top spot in the computer science; civil
engineering; chemical engineering; electrical engineering; and
mechanical, aeronautical, and manufacturing engineering fields. Other
American institutions that had strong showings in that category include
Stanford University, University of California--Berkeley, and California
Institute of Technology (Caltech).
[Learn key American university terms in the
U.S. Higher Education Glossary.]
U.S.
universities similarly led the pack in two other broad categories: life
sciences and social sciences. In the former, Harvard took the lead in
biological sciences and psychology; in the latter, while Harvard took
the No. 1 spot atop the accounting and finance; economics and
econometrics; politics and international studies; and sociology
rankings, Stanford topped the statistics and operational research
rankings.
Only the arts and humanities and natural sciences
categories showed some variety at the top. Although Harvard once again
took the top spots in the majority of the specific subject disciplines,
the U.K.'s University of Oxford was ranked No. 1 for geography and area
studies, and Cambridge dominated both the linguistics and physics and
astronomy subject rankings.
1. University of Cambridge (United Kingdom)
2. Harvard University (United States)
3. Massachusetts Institute of Technology (United States)
4. Yale University (United States)
5. University of Oxford (United Kingdom)
6. Imperial College London (United Kingdom)
7. UCL (University College London) (United Kingdom)
8. University of Chicago (United States)
9. University of Pennsylvania (United States)
10. Columbia University (United States)
See U.S. News's coverage of the World's Best Universities for rankings, photos, and more.
Mobile phones have come a long way in the
last decade, moving from a mix of modest clamshell and candy-bar designs
to widescreen smartphone
powerhouses. And while huge lists of advanced features are all the rage
these days, many still look back on the phones of yore with fond eyes.
One of the most popular handsets of yesteryear was the Motorola
RAZR, and now, 5 years since the company ceased production of the
iconic flip phone, they are reviving the name. The new Android-powered
device is called the Droid RAZR, and while it's nearly unrecognizable
compared to its older brother, it just may be what smartphone fans are
looking for.
The
original Motorola RAZR (pictured right) debuted in 2003 and in just
three short years it racked up over 50 million units sold, largely due
to its super-thin profile and flashy appearance. But as smartphones
began to grow in popularity, the modest features of the RAZR sent it
straight to the bargain bin. But with that kind of name recognition, the
new RAZR — which boasts a much more powerful OS and huge list of
features — may be able to capture some of the old phone's magic, which
is something many Android devices seem to be lacking as of late.
