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After months of extensive research involving the survey of 1100 institutes, 6500 recruiters and thousands of students, Youth Inc reveals the top 100 universities in the world for undergraduate study

An exercise in ranking the best higher education institutes of the world is no mean task. Information gathering in itself is an exhaustive exercise, while number-crunching and analysing gives meaning to the massive raw data. The aim of the Youth Incorporated, Education Times and Rediff.com Global University Rankings 2013 through this sophisticated exercise is to identify and ascertain the universities in the world that are fulfilling their commitment to provide quality education. The study was conducted over several months using research and survey inputs from thousands of people in more than 50 countries. We have brought together a large group of responses from not just institutes but also from current students. Additionally, feedback from 6,500 known recruiters on their experience of recruiting graduates from the institutes has greatly enhanced the survey. Thus, the universities were ranked using the responses of three indigenous groups based on factors that include financial aid, campus facilities, diversity of students, career prospects and more. The survey also allowed us to go one step further and provide you with more specialised rankings which take into account individual factors such as campus facilities, value for money and exchange programmes that come into play when picking a university. We have also ranked the best universities based on regional distribution and have provided separate rankings of the best institutes in study streams such as engineering, the arts, management and the sciences.

What’s Changed From 2011-2012?
Our last survey conducted in 2011- 2012 allows for a comparison which can be seen in the rankings. While it would be expected that the top 10 rankers of any list would remain consistent over time, our results show a shift in the top 10 of the global rankings within the space of a year.
Not only have the top 10 shifted spots, one among the top 3 has given way to another institute. While Harvard University and Stanford University have retained their positions of number 1 and 2 respectively, the previously thirdranked Massachusetts Institute of Technology has slipped down to four to make way for University of Pennsylvania. The rest of the top 10
seems to be similar, barring Imperial College London which makes way for the addition of Princeton University.
On a quick glance, it is apparent that the United States dominates in the realm of higher education. The only non-American university in the top 10 is Oxford which has also seen a drop in rank from our previous survey.

The Indian Angle
The Indian contingent on the list seems to be on the rise – four Indian institutes have made it to the top 100, as opposed to only one in our 2011-2012 ranking effort. The Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) at Mumbai has moved up to 19 from its previous position at 31. Accompanying it are IIT Delhi, IIT Kanpur and the University of Delhi which rank at 27, 79 and 99 respectively. We believe that the educational reforms being implemented in the country are responsible for the increasing visibility of Indian higher education institutes in our global ranking exercise.
That said, our rankings also reflect that institutes other than the IITs are not competent enough to feature with the world’s best institutes, a revelation that should be an impetus to take a long, hard look at the state of higher education in India.
Last month, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh acknowledged the dismal state of higher education in the country. “We must recognise that too many of our higher educational institutions are simply not up to the mark,” he said. Four Indian institutes have made it to the Top 100 list, which is an improvement from last year’s ranking. However, three of those institutes are IITs, making us  question the absence of other universities“Too many of them have simply not kept abreast with the rapid changes that have taken place in the world around us in recent years, still producing graduates in subjects that the job market no longer requires.”
In addition, President Pranab Mukherjee encouraged private players to enter the education sector and contribute towards its improvement. However, a study conducted by IDFC indicates that despite such efforts, the higher education sector in India remains “over regulated and under governed”. Pending education bills, restrictive regulations and cumbersome laws are some roadblocks that discourage private sector involvement. The study also suggests that autonomy practised with accountability could be a possible solution to this mess.

Youth Inc analyses universities across the world with inputs from students, faculty and recruiters to bring you a detailed list of the top 100 institutes for undergraduate courses

Last month, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh acknowledged the dismal state of higher education in the country. “We must recognise that too many of our higher educational institutions are simply not up to the mark,” he said

Four Indian institutes have made it to the Top 100 list, which is an improvement from last year’s ranking.
However, three of those institutes are IITs, making us question the absence of other universities

 

 

 

 

 

Top 100 Universities

RANK	NAME OF INSTITUTION	COUNTRY	SCORE	2011-12 RANK
1	Harvard University	USA	100	1
2	Stanford University	USA	99.8	2
3	University of Pennsylvania	USA	99.7	7
4	Massachusetts Institute of Technology	USA	99.5	3
5	University of Oxford	UK	99.4	4
6	University of Chicago	USA	99.3	5
7	Yale University	USA	99.2	6
8	Columbia University	USA	99.1	8
9	Princeton University	USA	99	11
10	Cornell University	USA	98.9	10
11	University of Cambridge	UK	98.7	18
12	California Institute of Technology	USA	98.4	12
13	Imperial College London	UK	98.2	9
14	Brown University	USA	98.1	24
15	University of Waterloo	Canada	97.6	NEW
16	London School of Economics	UK	97.4	20
17	University of Tokyo	Japan	97.2	17
18	Northwestern University	USA	97	14
19	Indian Institute of Technology Mumbai	India	96.7	31
20	University of Michigan, Ann Arbor	USA	96.5	15
21	University of California, Los Angeles	USA	96.3	23
22	Carnegie Mellon University	USA	96	22
23	New York University	USA	95.9	25
24	University of Melbourne	Australia	95.7	19
25	École Normale Supérieure	France	95.5	21
26	National University of Singapore	Singapore	95.3	29
27	Indian Institute of Technology Delhi	India	95.2	NEW
28	Duke University	USA	95	28
29	IE University	Spain	94.9	37
30	Chinese University of Hong Kong	China	94.7	27
31	University of California, Berkeley	USA	94.6	30
32	Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München	Germany	94.3	32
33	Hong Kong University of Science & Tech	China	94.2	35
34	Johns Hopkins University	USA	94.1	34
35	Emory University	USA	94	33
36	École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne	Switzerland	93.9	36
37	University College London	UK	93.7	26
38	Dartmouth College	USA	93.6	41
39	University of Virginia	USA	93.4	43
40	University of Copenhagen	Denmark	93.1	38
41	Universidade de São Paulo	Brazil	92.6	47
42	University of Zürich	Switzerland	92.5	39
43	Kings College, London	UK	92.3	40
44	Rice University	USA	92	44
45	University of Texas at Austin	USA	91.5	45
46	University of British Columbia	Canada	91.1	42
47	Peking University	China	91	52
48	Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile	Chile	90.9	48
49	Universität Heidelberg	Germany	90.7	50
50	Technische Universität München	Germany	90.5	53
51	University of Helsinki	Finland	90.2	51
52	University of Sydney	Australia	90.1	46
53	HEC	France	89	55
54	Vanderbilt University	USA	88.7	49
55	Universidad de Buenos Aires	Argentina	88.3	56
56	Nanyang Technological University	Singapore	88.1	61
57	Fudan University	China	87.9	69
58	Australian National University	Australia	87.6	58
59	Tokyo Institute of Technology	Japan	87.3	66
60	Seoul National University	South Korea	87.1	60
61	University of Southern California	USA	87	57
62	University of Warwick	UK	86.6	75
63	University of Wisconsin Madison	USA	86.2	62
64	École Polytechnique	France	86	71
65	Monash University	Australia	85	67
66	University of Birmingham	UK	84	NEW
67	Erasmus University Rotterdam	Netherlands	83	70
68	Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México	Mexico	82	68
69	University of New South Wales	Australia	81.5	59
70	University of Edinburgh	UK	81	64
71	University of North Carolina Chapel Hill	USA	80	65
72	University of Auckland	New Zealand	79.7	76
73	Tohoku University	Japan	79.5	73
74	Tsinghua University	China	79	72
75	Uppsala University	Sweden	78.6	74
76	Georgia Institute of Technology	USA	78.3	82
77	University of Queensland	Australia	78	77
78	National Taiwan University	Taiwan	77.8	78
79	Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur	India	77.5	NEW
80	University of Rochester	USA	77	84
81	University of Groningen	Netherlands	76.9	80
82	University of Bern	Switzerland	76.3	81
83	University of Adelaide	Australia	76	83
84	University of Surrey	UK	75	NEW
85	Paris Dauphine University	France	74.5	85
86	Ecole Centrale de Paris	France	74	88
87	Stockholm University	Sweden	73	91
88	Tel Aviv University	Israel	72	100
89	University of Washington	USA	71	89
90	University of Amsterdam	Netherlands	70	86
91	University of York	UK	69	94
92	Washington University St.Louis	USA	68.7	87
93	University of Pittsburg Bradford	USA	68.5	NEW
94	Pompeu Fabra University	Spain	68	98
95	University of Sciences Philadelphia	USA	67.5	NEW
96	Purdue University	USA	67	92
97	Heriot-Watt University	UK	66	NEW
98	Bradley University	USA	65	NEW
99	University of Delhi	India	64.5	NEW
100	Grenoble Ecole de Management	France	64	NEW

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Top US Universities

RANK	NAME OF INSTITUTION	COUNTRY
1	Harvard University	USA
2	Stanford University	USA
3	University of Pennsylvania	USA
4	Massachusetts Institute of Technology	USA
5	University of Chicago	USA
6	Yale University	USA
7	Columbia University	USA
8	Princeton University	USA
9	Cornell University	USA
10	California Institute of Technology	USA

 

 

 

 

 

 

Top European Universities

RANK	NAME OF INSTITUTION	COUNTRY
1	University of Oxford	UK
2	University of Cambridge	UK
3	Imperial College London	UK
4	London School of Economics	UK
5	École Normale Supérieure	France
6	IE University	Spain
7	Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München	Germany
8	École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne	Switzerland
9	University College London	UK
10	University of Copenhagen	Denmark

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Top Asian Universities

RANK	NAME OF INSTITUTION	COUNTRY
1	University of Tokyo	Japan
2	Indian Institute of Technology Mumbai	India
3	National University of Singapore	Singapore
4	Indian Institute of Technology Delhi	India
5	Chinese University of Hong Kong	China
6	Hong Kong University of Science & Tech	China
7	Peking University	China
8	Nanyang Technological University	Singapore
9	Fudan University	China
10	Tokyo Institute of Technology	Japan

 

 

 

 

 

 

Top Australian Universities

RANK	NAME OF INSTITUTION	COUNTRY
1	University of Melbourne	Australia
2	University of Sydney	Australia
3	Australian National University	Australia
4	Monash University	Australia
5	University of New South Wales	Australia
6	University of Queensland	Australia
7	University of Adelaide	Australia

 

TOP UNIVERSITIES IN/FOR

Business Programmes

RANK	NAME OF INSTITUTION	COUNTRY
1	Harvard University	USA
2	Stanford University	USA
3	National University of Singapore	Singapore
4	University of Cambridge	UK
5	University of Oxford	UK
6	Columbia University	USA
7	London School of Economics	UK
8	IE University	Spain
9	Massachusetts Institute of Technology	USA
10	University of Michigan, Ann Arbor	USA

 

Engineering Programmes

RANK	NAME OF INSTITUTION	COUNTRY
1	California Institute of Technology	USA
2	Massachusetts Institute of Technology	USA
3	Stanford University	USA
4	Imperial College London	UK
5	National University of Singapore	Singapore
6	University of Oxford	UK
7	Indian Institute of Technology Mumbai	India
8	Columbia University	USA
9	Cornell University	USA
10	Indian Institute of Technology Delhi	India

 

Arts & Humanities

RANK	NAME OF INSTITUTION	COUNTRY
1	Harvard University	USA
2	University of Cambridge	UK
3	Stanford University	USA
4	Princeton University	USA
5	Yale University	USA
6	University of Oxford	UK
7	National University of Singapore	Singapore
8	University of Tokyo	Japan
9	Columbia University	USA
10	University of Waterloo	Canada

 

Life Sciences & Medicine

RANK	NAME OF INSTITUTION	COUNTRY
1	Harvard University	USA
2	University of Cambridge	UK
3	Johns Hopkins University	USA
4	Stanford University	USA
5	Yale University	USA
6	University of Oxford	UK
7	University of Californias, Berkeley	USA
8	Imperial College London	UK
9	Cornell University	USA
10	University of Waterloo	Canada

 

Pure Sciences

RANK	NAME OF INSTITUTION	COUNTRY
1	Massachusetts Institute of Technology	USA
2	Harvard University	USA
3	University of Cambridge	UK
4	Stanford University	USA
5	Princeton University	USA
6	University of Oxford	UK
7	National University Singapore	Singapore
8	Yale University	USA
9	Cornell University	USA
10	University of Tokyo	Japan

 

Best Value for Money

RANK	NAME OF INSTITUTION	COUNTRY
1	National University of Singapore	Singapore
2	Indian Institute of Technology Mumbai	India
3	Indian Institute of Technology Delhi	India
4	University of Waterloo	Canada
5	Yale University	USA
6	Universität Heidelberg	Germany
7	Cornell University	USA
8	Hong Kong University of Science & Tech	China
9	Columbia University	USA
10	Brown University	USA

 

Student Satisfaction

RANK	NAME OF INSTITUTION	COUNTRY
1	Harvard University	USA
2	Stanford University	USA
3	Columbia University	USA
4	Brown University	USA
5	University of Pennsylvania	USA
6	University of Oxford	UK
7	École Normale Supérieure	France
8	University of Cambridge	UK
9	Princeton University	USA
10	London School of Economics	UK

 

Recruiter Satisfaction

RANK	NAME OF INSTITUTION	COUNTRY
1	Stanford University	USA
2	Harvard University	USA
3	University of Pennsylvania	USA
4	Carnegie Mellon University	USA
5	Brown University	USA
6	Indian Institute of Technology Mumbai	India
7	Hong Kong University of Science & Tech	China
8	University of Waterloo	Canada
9	University of Oxford	UK
10	Indian Institute of Technology Delhi	India

 

Campus Facilities

RANK	NAME OF INSTITUTION	COUNTRY
1	Massachusetts Institute of Technology	USA
2	Columbia University	USA
3	Cornell University	USA
4	Princeton University	USA
5	University of Oxford	UK
6	University of Cambridge	UK
7	California Institute of Technology	USA
8	Duke University	USA
9	Dartmouth College	USA
10	IE University	Spain

 

Innovation in Teaching Methodologies

RANK	NAME OF INSTITUTION	COUNTRY
1	Stanford University	USA
2	Harvard University	USA
3	London School of Economics	UK
4	Brown University	USA
5	Northwestern University	USA
6	Dartmouth College	USA
7	IE University	Spain
8	Columbia University	USA
9	École Normale Supérieure	France
10	Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München	Germany

 

Career Services

RANK	NAME OF INSTITUTION	COUNTRY
1	Harvard University	USA
2	Stanford University	USA
3	University of Pennsylvania	USA
4	Columbia University	USA
5	Indian Institute of Technology Mumbai	India
6	Indian Institute of Technology Delhi	India
7	Carnegie Mellon University	USA
8	National University of Singapore	Singapore
9	University of California, Berkeley	USA
10	Dartmouth College	USA

 

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

Youth Inc’s research unit calibrated extensive data from a variety of source, which was then analysed to ascertain the top performing institutes of 2013.

We chose institutes across the world after having discussions with thousands of students, recruiters and faculty. Youth Inc’s Research Unit (YRU) also studied domestic rankings in various countries to find the best institutes.  We sent survey links to 1,100 institutes and provided them with unique codes so that they could submit their responses online. Current students of the institutes were asked to specify the stream they were studying and then rate specific statements which were pertaining to the factors considered in this ranking. Several institutes directly contacted their current students and recruiters and  asked them to take part in our survey.
Over 6,500 recruiters were sent emails with the survey link. The recruiter list was prepared from the responses of the institutes and also included internationally well-known recruiters. Below are the factors we considered and the overall weightage assigned to them:
♦Careers, recruitment and industry viability of students – 55%
♦Diversity and international outlook – 10%
♦Innovation – 10%
♦Campus, extracurricular activities, exchange programmes – 15%
♦Money, student satisfaction – 10%

Career, Recruitment and Industry Viability of Student – 55%
This category significantly impacts the overall score of an institute since it is the most weighted factor. One of the most important criteria to select institutes is the student’s industry viability after graduation.  Recruiters were asked to list and rate the institutes that they were most likely to recruit from. They were asked the likelihood of recruiting again from the same institute and their satisfaction with the institute’s careers cell. Recruiters rated students on various factors including analytical and problem solving skills, leadership potential, communication and interpersonal skills and so on.
Institutes and students were also asked about the availability and functioning of a career services cell on campus and how active such a service was. We also considered what percentage of students were actually placed, both domestically and internationally, through the institute’s career services cell. Students also
reported the availability and ease of obtaining internships.

Diversity and International Outlook – 10%
This category looks not only at diversity of faculty but also at diversity of students in the classroom. The international outlook includes international students that are attracted and retained by the institute. Institutes were asked to report the total number of students on campus and what percentage of the students were international and speak two or more languages. Gender diversity of the students was considered. Institutes also reported the percentage of the faculty that were international, hold a doctorate degree and accredited with their own publishing material along with the gender diversity of the faculty.
Students were asked to rate the student and faculty diversity in their class.

Innovation – 10%
This category looks at how innovatively programmes are constructed and taught and how faculty engage the students – an important factor in the overall
perception of an institute. We considered the different ways in which an institute constructs programmes. Institutes were asked to select from a list of different teaching methodologies that we considered innovative – some of these included
company visits, dual or multiple majors and course collaborations between different departments at the institute. Our list was made after surveying students across different campuses worldwide.
Students were asked to report how satisfied they are with faculty who use innovative ways to teach subjects.

Campus, Extracurricular Activities, Exchange Programmes – 15%
This category considers the support students receive on campus and the availability of extracurricular activities. The exchange programmes offered by the institute and how actively students are encouraged to opt for such programmes was also considered. We asked institutes to indicate the different types of assistance provided by the student office or a similar body on campus. Our initial list was made after surveying students across different campuses worldwide. Students reported if they were encouraged by the institute to participate in different extracurricular activities on campus.
Institutes were asked to report the percentage of students that opted for exchange programmes. We also considered the exchange students present on the institute’s campus.

Money, Student Satisfaction – 10%
This category takes into account a critical part of education today – finances. And more importantly, how satisfied a student is with the institute. We considered students’ opinions on whether a particular institute was perceived as ‘value for money’. We also asked institutes to state the percentage of students who received some sort of funding from the institutes.
Students were asked to rate their institutes on various factors including attitude  of staff and professors, location, course content and so on and institutes were asked to report the graduation rate of students enrolled and what percentage of students transfer out of the institution.

Scores
We calculated the standard deviation and standard scores (Z-scores) so that we could combine and analyse the data with more accuracy and reliability. Below is a summary of the factors and the weightage given to each factor when we ranked the institutes. Each factor was made up of a set of questions. The total  percentage attributed to that factor was based on the average score of the responses multiplied by the assigned weightage. The total scores were then sorted from highest to lowest. The institute with the highest score was ranked first.

Not Just Numbers
After we calculated the total computed scores for the institutes, we subjectively analysed the data provided by the institutes, current students and recruiters. If we found discrepancies in the satisfaction scores and the subjective descriptions, we omitted the data.

Missing Data
In a few rare occasions, some institutes did not supply data for all the questions in the survey. When data was missing, which affected factors which were low-weighted such as value for money or campus support, we entered an estimate between the average and the lowest value reported by the institute. By following such a practice we did not excessively penalise an institution with a ‘zero’ for data that it could not provide. At the same time, the institute was not rewarded.

Exclusion of Institutes
Only institutes that offered undergraduate programmes were included in the ranking. Hence, some institutes were disqualified from our ranking because they reported data pertaining to graduate programmes.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Institutes that did not fill out the Survey Reports on Time
Of the 1,100 institutes that were contacted, 23 per cent of the institutes did not complete the survey on time or did not respond. We used publicly available information on some of these institutes to include them in our ranking. We also contacted current students and recruiters of these institutes and compared the data we received with the data from institutes that participated in our survey.