2022 Best Global Universities by City

[Manitopiaaa]

U.S. News and World Report releases their 2022 Best Global Universities ranking in exactly 10 days, and while these ranking releases are a big deal in academic circles (and of course among young people), it doesn't really get much love in urban planning forums.

So I thought I'd open a discussion on the top of global universities by city. Since universities have a large catchment area (Princeton and Yale both largely feed their graduates to New York, for example), I'm using CSA and CSA-equivalents for international schools. I think it's worth noting that universities often act as proxies for the larger cities. As Dallas has boomed, its universities like UT-Dallas and SMU have risen in the rankings. Same for Atlanta.

So while we tend to see universities as detached from their parent cities, fortunes do often coincide. Would San Francisco be the undisputed tech hegemon of the planet if it weren't for having 2 major universities (Berkeley and Stanford?). How about Boston and biotech? Johns Hopkins is making a major push into Washington D.C. proper as Baltimore's problems threaten to derail the university's ascendant ranking.

Curious if there are any rankings anyone finds interesting. I'm surprised how poorly Italian, Japanese, and Korean cities fare. I also think Latin America should have at least 1 university in the Top 100 given it has 600 million+ people.

Disclaimer: U.S. News is NOT the only university ranker, but since it's recent inception has become the most famous one, just as it has essentially become the default ranking of universities within the USA. I don't see any large American bias with this ranking, but I do notice an Australian/Dutch bias in that both have far more highly-ranked universities here than in other aggregators. Take that for what you will.

Here are the Top 100 in the 2021 rankings for initial reference: https://www.usnews.com/education/bes...ities/rankings


NORTH AMERICA (48 of Top 100, 45 in USA)

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Atlanta

• Emory University (#71)
• Georgia Institute of Technology (#66)

Austin

• University of Texas (#38)

Boston

• Boston University (#57)
• Harvard University (#1)
• Massachusetts Institute of Technology (#2)

Champaign-Urbana

• University of Illinois (#60)

Chicago

• Northwestern University (#24)
• University of Chicago (#16)

Columbus

• Ohio State University (#45)

Denver

• University of Colorado (#59)

Detroit

• University of Michigan (#17)

Ithaca

• Cornell University (#22) [highest ranked uni. not in a major metro]

Lansing

• Michigan State University (#100)

Los Angeles

• California Institute of Technology (#7)
• University of California, Irvine (#78)
• University of California, Los Angeles (#13)
• University of Southern California (#70)

Madison

• University of Wisconsin (#41)

Minneapolis-Saint Paul

• University of Minnesota (#47)

Montreal

• McGill University (#51)

Nashville

• Vanderbilt University (#72)

New York

• Columbia University (#6)
• Mount Sinai School of Medicine (#62)
• New York University (#29)
• Princeton University (#11)
• Rockefeller University (#76)
• Yale University (#11)

Philadelphia

• University of Pennsylvania (#14)

Pittsburgh

• Carnegie Mellon University (#94) [this being below Pitt is a slight WTF]
• University of Pittsburgh (#43)

Raleigh

• Duke University (#23)
• University of North Carolina (#36)

Sacramento

• University of California, Davis (#66)

Saint Louis

• Washington University in Saint Louis (#33)

San Diego

• University of California, San Diego (#21)

San Francisco

• Stanford University (#3)
• University of California, Berkeley (#4)
• University of California, San Francisco (#15)
• University of California, Santa Cruz (#81)

Santa Barbara

• University of California, Santa Barbara (#56)

Seattle

• University of Washington (#8)

State College

• Pennsylvania State University (#75)

Toronto

• University of Toronto (#17)

Tucson

• University of Arizona (#97)

Vancouver

• University of British Columbia (#31)

Washington-Baltimore

• Johns Hopkins University (#10)
• University of Maryland (#60)

EUROPE (36 of Top 100)
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Amsterdam-Rotterdam

• Erasmus University (#68)
• Free University of Amsterdam (#80)
• Leiden University (#86)
• University of Amsterdam (#40)
• Utrecht University (#54)

Barcelona

• University of Barcelona (#90)

Berlin

• Humboldt University of Berlin (#82)

Birmingham

• University of Birmingham (#92)

Bristol

• University of Bristol (#86)

Brussels

• Catholic University of Leuven (#48)
• Ghent University (#85)

Copenhagen-Malmo

• Lund University (#99)
• University of Copenhagen (#34)

Edinburgh

• University of Edinburgh (#30)

Geneva-Lausanne

• Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Lausanne (#58)
• University of Geneva (#96)

Glasgow

• University of Glasgow (#86)

Groningen

• University of Groningen (#92)

Helsinki

• University of Helsinki (#86)

London

• Imperial College London (#20)
• King's College London (#34)
• University College London (#19)
• University of Cambridge (#9)
• University of Oxford (#5)
• University of Southampton (#97)

Manchester

• University of Manchester (#64)

Mannheim-Heidelberg

• University of Heidelberg (#54)

Munich

• Technical University of Munich (#76)
• University of Munich (#46)

Nijmegen-Arnhem

• Wageningen University (#83)

Oslo

• University of Oslo (#90)

Paris

• Paris Sorbonne University (#43)
• University of Paris (#68)

Stockholm

• Karolinska Institute (#48)

Zurich

• Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (#26) [highest ranked uni. not in Anglosphere]
• University of Zurich (#62)

ASIA-PACIFIC (16 of Top 100)

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Adelaide

• University of Adelaide (#73)

Beijing

• Peking University (#51)
• Tsinghua University (#28) [highest ranked uni. in Asia]

Brisbane

• University of Queensland (#36)

Canberra

• Australian National University (#64)

Hong Kong

• Chinese University of Hong Kong (#95)
• University of Hong Kong (#83)

Jeddah

• King Abdulaziz University (#42) [highest ranked uni. in Middle East and Islamic World]

Melbourne

• Monash University (#48)
• University of Melbourne (#25) [highest ranked uni. in Oceania and Asia-Pacific]

Perth

• University of Western Australia (#79)

Singapore

• Nanyang Technological University (#38)
• National University of Singapore (#32) [highest ranked uni. in Southeast Asia]

Sydney

• University of New South Wales (#51)
• University of Sydney (#27)

Tokyo

• University of Tokyo (#73)

[Steely Dan]

I'm legit surprised that Notre Dame in South Bend, IN doesn't appear on this list.

it typically ranks in the top 25 or so on most US university rankings.

[Manitopiaaa]

Originally Posted by Steely Dan

I'm legit surprised that Notre Dame in South Bend, IN doesn't appear on this list.

it typically ranks in the top 25 or so on most US university rankings.

Notre Dame is #238, which I agree is too low for a city with its reputation and scores (not to mention gorgeous campus).

Georgetown University, widely considered the 2nd best university in the DMV, is #322(!) in this ranking, even though it too tops the Top 25 in the domestic rankings almost every time.

Here's the methodology: https://www.usnews.com/education/bes...es/methodology

I'm not sure what could be causing both of these universities to do so poorly here.

[Steely Dan]

^ yeah, very odd indeed.

and i'm not just trying to be a homer here.

they have the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) ranked above Notre Dame!

say what?

Now, UIC is a fine school and I am not trying to shit all over it, but going by any objective analysis of academic repuations, it's not even in the same galaxy as a school like ND, but whatever.....


at least the big 10 has a good showing here, with 9 of its 14 schools ranked in the global top 100..... not too shabby.

and once again the University of California system shines, with 8 schools in the top 100. very impressive.

[dave8721]

Originally Posted by Manitopiaaa

Notre Dame is #238, which I agree is too low for a city with its reputation and scores (not to mention gorgeous campus).

Georgetown University, widely considered the 2nd best university in the DMV, is #322(!) in this ranking, even though it too tops the Top 25 in the domestic rankings almost every time.

Here's the methodology: https://www.usnews.com/education/bes...es/methodology

I'm not sure what could be causing both of these universities to do so poorly here.

Whatever the methodology it looks like it devalued smaller private schools. No Notre Dame, Georgetown, Vanderbilt and USC are pretty low, Carnegie Melon #94, no BC or Miami. No Wake Forest. No Rice.

[SIGSEGV]

Yeah this must be a very research heavy ranking. Glad to see my alma maters are #2 and #3 though

[Manitopiaaa]

Originally Posted by SIGSEGV

Yeah this must be a very research heavy ranking. Glad to see my alma maters are #2 and #3 though

MIT AND Stanford? Wow, and here I am proud to just have one degree from a Top 10 (and one that barely crosses into it)

[DCReid]

Rankings seem inconsistent to me - some like MIT, and easter IVYs seems properly ranked, but others do not, at least to me. One Japanese university versus more than five from Australia. U of Cal universities are good, but is UUC San Francisco really so much better than the U Michigan or Wisconsin? In TX, Rice is considered the best university, even better than UT Austin.

[Manitopiaaa]

Originally Posted by DCReid

Rankings seem inconsistent to me - some like MIT, and easter IVYs seems properly ranked, but others do not, at least to me. One Japanese university versus more than five from Australia. U of Cal universities are good, but is UUC San Francisco really so much better than the U Michigan or Wisconsin? In TX, Rice is considered the best university, even better than UT Austin.

University of Washington to me is the most inconsistent. Does anyone really consider them above Princeton, Yale? I don't even consider UWash a public ivy, much less a Top 10 global university.

[citizensf]

Originally Posted by DCReid

Rankings seem inconsistent to me - some like MIT, and easter IVYs seems properly ranked, but others do not, at least to me….U of Cal universities are good, but is UUC San Francisco really so much better than the U Michigan or Wisconsin?

RE: UCSF (University of California, San Francisco), it’s a bit of an odd-duck in that it has no undergraduate program and is entirely dedicated to health sciences—medical and biological research and graduate programs in medicine (e.g., medical school, dental school etc.).

That said, the school is world-class and typically is in the mix of top medical schools and medical research facilities—it ranked as the #4 US medical school alongside Stanford and Columbia in the latest US News Grad School rankings.

Its well-regarded by people in the field, but sometimes unknown by the general public owing to its lack of undergraduate school (and thereby absent from the “visible” collegiate sports scene) as well as its relatively narrow academic focus. I’ve even met people from the Bay Area and SF proper who will casually mix up USF and UCSF—they’re not the same (the former is a private Jesuit university).

[pj3000]

Originally Posted by homebucket

I'm sure Columbia is worthy of its ranking, although I'm not sure how you could definitively state with any authority that it is better than some other [insert top tier school].

Also, does Columbia have any good sports teams? That could be another factor. Places like Stanford, Cal, UCLA have the brawns to go along with the brains. More well rounded. I think USC, Stanford, UCLA, and Cal round out the top 4 in Olympic medal counts out of all American universities.

I don't think it's generally possible to claim that any top-tier university is definitively "better" than any other. I think these rankings are pretty much bullshit. But it's not, and shouldn't be, surprising to see the same mix among the top year after year, decade after decade.

And I don't think intercollegiate athletics has any place in rankings of universities, when it comes to academics.

We'd be kidding ourselves if we believed that the Stanford football team (or any college football, basketball, etc. team) gained admission based on its academic achievement.

Originally Posted by edale

Not that this means much of anything, but I know several people who've gone to Columbia, and none of them are people I'd consider very smart. Seems like they factor legacy and family money into admissions VERY highly.

I'm sure this happens at every Ivy or competitive private university, but at least the people I know who went to Princeton, Harvard, Yale...even Duke...are very smart and accomplished. Anecdotal, sure, but it definitely shapes my impression of Columbia as being less prestigious.

One could say the same thing about Harvard or Duke or Penn or Cornell or Stanford or...

I know a guy who attended Harvard for undergrad... he was a B student in high school, but he is Mexican and gay and grew up in a single-parent household, so he gained admission. He's no dummy by any means, but you'd never mistake him for brainy Harvard material.

My neighbor attended Princeton. She studied her ass off in high school to get As. Have a conversation with her... very smart is not a description you'd hang on her.

Our high school valedictorian is likely a genius... she didn't get into Harvard or Yale or Columbia for god only knows what reason, but was accepted by and attended Stanford.

But none of these personal anecdotes cause me to believe that Harvard and Princeton and Stanford aren't among the very top universities in the world.

I would say the legacy and family money/influence is MUCH more of a description of Harvard, Yale, Princeton. Those Ivies have long been much more about family legacy and wealth -- the blue blood Ivies.

Columbia began admitting religious and ethnic minorities and Catholics far earlier than the HYP club did so. This led to Columbia being seen as "lesser" than the WASP-y HYP bastion many years ago, and the attitude still persists that Columbia somehow admits people who don't make the cut for the HYP club.

[memester]

Originally Posted by DCReid

Rankings seem inconsistent to me - some like MIT, and easter IVYs seems properly ranked, but others do not, at least to me. One Japanese university versus more than five from Australia. U of Cal universities are good, but is UUC San Francisco really so much better than the U Michigan or Wisconsin? In TX, Rice is considered the best university, even better than UT Austin.

UCSF is a graduate-only medical research university. There are no undergraduate programs. It is one of the top five recipients of NIH/NSF funding and a major source for researchers for the Bay Area's biotech industry. It;s economic/academic outputs far exceed UMich or Wisconsin-Madison

[DCReid]

Originally Posted by memester

UCSF is a graduate-only medical research university. There are no undergraduate programs. It is one of the top five recipients of NIH/NSF funding and a major source for researchers for the Bay Area's biotech industry. It;s economic/academic outputs far exceed UMich or Wisconsin-Madison

You are certainly entitled to your opinion but I would surmise that most people would disagree with that assessment. I'm guessing that UCSF ranks so highly because it is in the Bay area with some many other highly ranked institutions and more importantly companies. If it was in the midwest, it would not be ranked. I even doubt that it is more influential for medical/research than the Mayo Clinic in Rochester Minnesota or the Cleveland Clinic.

[iheartthed]

Originally Posted by memester

It;s economic/academic outputs far exceed UMich or Wisconsin-Madison

That seems extremely unlikely.

[N90]

Any list without Rice is trash

[craigs]

Rice is there, it's #128.

Here's USNWR's rubric:

RANKING INDICATOR - WEIGHT
Global research reputation - 12.5%
Regional research reputation - 12.5%
Publications - 10%
Books - 2.5%
Conferences - 2.5%
Normalized citation impact - 10%
Total citations - 7.5%
Number of publications that are among the 10% most cited - 12.5%
Percentage of total publications that are among the 10% most cited - 10%
International collaboration – relative to country - 5%
International collaboration - 5%
Number of highly cited papers that are among the top 1% most cited in their respective field - 5%
Percentage of total publications that are among the top 1% most highly cited papers - 5%

[SlidellWx]

LSU ranking higher than Tulane is hilarious.

[SIGSEGV]

Originally Posted by craigs

Rice is there, it's #128.

Here's USNWR's rubric:

RANKING INDICATOR - WEIGHT
Global research reputation - 12.5%
Regional research reputation - 12.5%
Publications - 10%
Books - 2.5%
Conferences - 2.5%
Normalized citation impact - 10%
Total citations - 7.5%
Number of publications that are among the 10% most cited - 12.5%
Percentage of total publications that are among the 10% most cited - 10%
International collaboration – relative to country - 5%
International collaboration - 5%
Number of highly cited papers that are among the top 1% most cited in their respective field - 5%
Percentage of total publications that are among the top 1% most highly cited papers - 5%

Yeah this clearly favors large research universities, as is obvious in the rankings.

[CaliNative]

Originally Posted by craigs

Rice is there, it's #128.

Here's USNWR's rubric:

RANKING INDICATOR - WEIGHT
Global research reputation - 12.5%
Regional research reputation - 12.5%
Publications - 10%
Books - 2.5%
Conferences - 2.5%
Normalized citation impact - 10%
Total citations - 7.5%
Number of publications that are among the 10% most cited - 12.5%
Percentage of total publications that are among the 10% most cited - 10%
International collaboration – relative to country - 5%
International collaboration - 5%
Number of highly cited papers that are among the top 1% most cited in their respective field - 5%
Percentage of total publications that are among the top 1% most highly cited papers - 5%

What, football team rank isn't condidered?

[Barney Greengrass]

I had to chuckle when I saw Princeton and Yale put in the NYC column, I can't think of anyone who would consider those two to be "New York" institutions. Princeton is a small college town on the periphery of the metro area, and Yale is in New Haven, which is nearly as far from NYC as Philadelphia (yes, I know it's in the csa).

So as flattering as it may be and despite all the junior investment bankers they feed into the city, those two should be under their own municipalities imho.