Going to the best universities has always been a dream of many students, choosing the right university was and remains the first step on the path to academic and professional success. Of course, there are several steps that can help the student in the selection process, including searching for the university’s ranking in the annual classification tables issued by major educational institutions. In this regard, there are two major rankings that assist the student in the selection process: the academic ranking of international universities, and the QS classification of the top 1000 global universities, and we will review in this article the top 10 universities around the world according to the QS classification.
The QS Annual University Ranking is issued by the British Quacquarelli Symonds Foundation for Academic Education and University Study. The QS classification follows a clear system that adopts different criteria for the ranking of universities, the most important of which are: the academic reputation of the university, the quality of academic staff, the quality of education and scientific research and its ability to attract foreign students, and the results of the QS classification for the top 10 global universities for the year 2018 are as follows:
1- MIT
For the sixth year in a row, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology - based in Cambridge - ranked first in the QS classification, and this is not at all surprising. It is issued annually, and the institute maintains several partnerships with Arab universities and institutions, the latest of which was its cooperation with Khalifa University in Abu Dhabi to launch a training program in the field of entrepreneurship. The enrollment rate for students in the institute is 8%.
Website: http://web.mit.edu
2- Stanford University
Stanford University has maintained its second rank in the QS classification, and like the Massachusetts Institute of Excellence, it has an excellent academic reputation, even surpassing the institute in some classification standards, but the proportion of foreign students is slightly low. The university provides, through its website, an opportunity to study online, through a set of free courses. Student admission to Stanford is 5%.
Website: www.stanford.edu
3- Harvard University
Over the past years, Harvard University has been ranked as the best university in the world by a large portion of academics around the world, and admission requirements are among the most difficult. For example, admission requires that a student's GPA be high, and Harvard has been the preferred choice for a number of well-known personalities in which they have studied such as: Bill Gates, Barack Obama, and John Kennedy. Student admission rate is 6%.
Website: https://www.harvard.edu
4- California Institute of Technology
The California Institute of Technology climbed to fourth after its fifth in the QS ranking for the past year. The institute has a pivotal role to play in NASA projects, particularly as it oversees the administration of the agency's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. The institute focuses on engineering sciences, mathematics and physical sciences, and its graduates have won 35 Nobel Prizes. Therefore, it is the ideal environment for students who wish to pursue their studies and research, and the student acceptance rate is 9%.
Website: http://www.caltech.edu
5- University of Cambridge
After the United States of America dominated the top four in the QS ranking, the British University of Cambridge ranked fifth. The University of Cambridge is the second oldest university in the world after Oxford, and it has a distinguished academic reputation that made it ranked first in the best university in Britain.
Website: https://www.cam.ac.uk
6- University of Oxford
Oxford University is the world's first university, and it ranks sixth in the QS rankings. Oxford has more than 30 different colleges, where students can choose the major they want. The admission rate to Oxford University is 17.7%.
Website: http://www.ox.ac.uk
7- University College London
It is the third consecutive time that University College London has ranked seventh in the QS ranking. University College London surpassed various criteria, as it was among the top ten universities in several majors including: medicine, dentistry, geography, psychology and pharmacy.
Website: https://www.ucl.ac.uk
8- Imperial College London
The Imperial College of London is distinguished for its technical and scientific specializations, in addition to the College of Business Administration. The university has entered among the first ten ranks in the fields of engineering, technology, natural and environmental sciences, and the university is ranked 20th globally in terms of employing its graduates. All of these factors made it the eighth in the QS classification.
Website: https://www.imperial.ac.uk
9 - University of Chicago
The University of Chicago was founded in 1890 and has, over time, become one of America's most prestigious universities. The University of Chicago has more than 50 general majors, as well as 35 sub-majors, and associate alumni have won 91 Nobel Prizes. The enrollment rate at the University of Chicago is 8%.
Website: https://www.uchicago.edu
10- Swiss Federal Institute of Technology ETH Zurich
The Swiss Federal Institute of Technology broke the monopoly of the United States and the United Kingdom for the top ten in the QS classification, and the Institute maintained its global superiority, as it ranked first in the field of earth sciences and marine sciences, in addition to its presence in the top ten in other fields.
Website: https://www.ethz.ch/de.html
Author: Steav