Harvard University is the best ranked university in the world according to the 2015 Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU), published by Shanghai Jiao Tong University, which focuses on quality of faculty and research.
Among public universities, UC Berkeley is rated 1st (4th overall), UCLA is 2nd (12th overall), UC San Diego 3rd (14th overall), University of Washington 4th (15th overall) and UC San Francisco 5th (18th overall).
Top 50 Universities in the World:
1 Harvard University
2 Stanford University
3 MIT
4 University of California, Berkeley
5 University of Cambridge
6 Princeton University
7 California Institute of Technology
8 Columbia University
9 University of Chicago
10 University of Oxford
11 Yale University
12 University of California, Los Angeles
13 Cornell University
14 University of California, San Diego
15 University of Washington
16 Johns Hopkins University
17 University of Pennsylvania
18 University College London
18 University of California, San Francisco
20 Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich
21 The University of Tokyo
22 University of Michigan-Ann Arbor
23 The Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine
24 University of Wisconsin - Madison
25 University of Toronto
26 Kyoto University
27 New York University
27 Northwestern University
29 University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
30 University of Minnesota, Twin Cities
31 Duke University
32 Washington University in St. Louis
33 Rockefeller University
34 University of Colorado at Boulder
35 University of Copenhagen
36 Pierre and Marie Curie University - Paris
37 The University of Texas at Austin
38 University of California, Santa Barbara
39 University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
40 University of British Columbia
41 The University of Manchester
41 University of Paris-Sud (Paris 11)
43 University of Maryland, College Park
44 The University of Melbourne
44 The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas
46 Heidelberg University
47 The University of Edinburgh
48 Karolinska Institute
49 University of Southern California
50 University of California, Irvine
Source: ARWU 2015
* Suggested Reading:
QS World University Rankings 2014/2015
Times and Sunday Times League Table 2015
Times Higher Education 100 Under 50 Ranking
Top 50 Universities in the World:
1 Harvard University
2 Stanford University
3 MIT
4 University of California, Berkeley
5 University of Cambridge
6 Princeton University
7 California Institute of Technology
8 Columbia University
9 University of Chicago
10 University of Oxford
11 Yale University
12 University of California, Los Angeles
13 Cornell University
14 University of California, San Diego
15 University of Washington
16 Johns Hopkins University
17 University of Pennsylvania
18 University College London
18 University of California, San Francisco
20 Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich
21 The University of Tokyo
22 University of Michigan-Ann Arbor
23 The Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine
24 University of Wisconsin - Madison
25 University of Toronto
26 Kyoto University
27 New York University
27 Northwestern University
29 University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
30 University of Minnesota, Twin Cities
31 Duke University
32 Washington University in St. Louis
33 Rockefeller University
34 University of Colorado at Boulder
35 University of Copenhagen
36 Pierre and Marie Curie University - Paris
37 The University of Texas at Austin
38 University of California, Santa Barbara
39 University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
40 University of British Columbia
41 The University of Manchester
41 University of Paris-Sud (Paris 11)
43 University of Maryland, College Park
44 The University of Melbourne
44 The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas
46 Heidelberg University
47 The University of Edinburgh
48 Karolinska Institute
49 University of Southern California
50 University of California, Irvine
Source: ARWU 2015
* Suggested Reading:
QS World University Rankings 2014/2015
Times and Sunday Times League Table 2015
Times Higher Education 100 Under 50 Ranking
