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.

[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.

[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.

[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.

[ue]

Not to be that guy, but kind of surprising (but also not) how few Canadian universities made the rankings viz the US. The UofA, UWO, UWaterloo, Queen's, and Dalhousie are pretty well regarded domestically.

[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.

[CaliNative]

This list is all about research and publications, nothing about quality of teaching and undergraduate education. Highly ranked research universities, especially the large public ones, often short change undergraduate education. You are instructed in large lecture halls, often by teaching assistants (graduate students) or green assistant professors rather than tenured professors. You have little contact with professors (especially in your freshman and sophomore introductory classes) unless you make an effort to attend office hours. These large public research universities are usually poor for undergrads, but great for grad students on Ph.D tracks.

Exceptions: great for smart undergrads are small or medium-sized, private top ranked research universities like Cal.Tech, MIT, Princeton, Harvard or Stanford where student/faculty ratios are much lower and even undergrads actually interact with exceptional professors. If you get picked to attend one of these, and get a free ride, accept.

Next best or maybe just as good--if not accepted by one of the above, consider small private colleges with exceptional undergraduate programs, and small classes and great profs. Places like Oberlin, Beloit, the Claremont Colleges (Pomona College, Harvey Mudd, etc.). I agree with some of the above comments Rice U. is terrific. An off beat but exceptional college is the one in the Saline Valley of CA profiled on 60 Minutes last week. Ranching, farming and great education. Genius students.

[Crawford]

USNWR global universities list is for non-U.S. universities.

So you would use the standard USNWR list for U.S. universities, but no one looks at the global list for U.S. universities. That's for a non-U.S. audience.

And we already have the 2021 USNWR list for the U.S.

[SIGSEGV]

Originally Posted by CaliNative

This list is all about research and publications, nothing about quality of teaching and undergraduate education. Highly ranked research universities, especially the large public ones, often short change undergraduate education. You are instructed in large lecture halls, often by teaching assistants (graduate students) or green assistant professors rather than tenured professors. You have little contact with professors (especially in your freshman and sophomore introductory classes) unless you make an effort to attend office hours. These large public research universities are usually poor for undergrads, but great for grad students on Ph.D tracks.

Exceptions: great for smart undergrads are small or medium-sized, private top ranked research universities like Cal.Tech, MIT, Princeton, Harvard or Stanford where student/faculty ratios are much lower and even undergrads actually interact with exceptional professors. If you get picked to attend one of these, and get a free ride, accept.

Next best or maybe just as good--if not accepted by one of the above, consider small private colleges with exceptional undergraduate programs, and small classes and great profs. Places like Oberlin, Beloit, the Claremont Colleges (Pomona College, Harvey Mudd, etc.). I agree with some of the above comments Rice U. is terrific. An off beat but exceptional college is the one in the Saline Valley of CA profiled on 60 Minutes last week. Ranching, farming and great education. Genius students.

Not the Saline Valley, but the Deep Springs Valley (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deep_Springs_Valley) . A bit North of the Saline Valley and probably closest to the Fish Lake Valley.

But yeah, Deep Springs is insane. One of my experiments is just up the road from it and whenever we drive by there it's an eerie feeling. I've always wanted to stop and say hi but I don't think it would be received well .

[Northern Light]

On the subject of bias/omissions etc.

I think people are quite right to note that the list favours large research institutions.

That isn't intrinsically right or wrong; any ranking of hospitals/universities/cities/ etc etc. will have its unavoidable biases.

If you weight more heavily on the undergrad experience, someone who valued their graduate experience more or research more would quibble.

Of course within the area of bias there is still more bias, which is say, what measures provide 'fair weight' in evaluating a desired quality? Should their be greater weight on Nobel prizes for faculty, or on publishing? What about the quality of said publishing or other awards?

For the undergrad experience is it student/faculty ratio; what about athletics, or arts, or campus pub or the quality of residence or support for commuter students or good transit access? All of these things matter in some way; though some clearly more than others.

Its hard to assess fairly. Its subjective. All such lists should be taken with the appropriate grain of salt.

****

A couple of additional notes about bias.

Reputation as a ranking can be qualitative in some ways, but its often more of a general knowledge test.

Smaller schools with fewer total graduates will tend to do less well as fewer people have direct knowledge of them.

Many small schools in the U.S. have no reputation to speak of beyond the U.S. or perhaps Canada. The world does not watch NCAA sports.

Likewise a great small school in Canada may not be known by Americans, never mind Australians.

****

A further observation, the survey, to my understanding is done in English; that will naturally show a selection bias in terms of who participates in the survey; and those speaking English will be more likely to have heard of universities from the English speaking world.

Likewise, citations will come disproportionately from English-language journals which will tend to favour English-speaking faculty and institutions.

[montréaliste]

Originally Posted by CaliNative

This list is all about research and publications, nothing about quality of teaching and undergraduate education. Highly ranked research universities, especially the large public ones, often short change undergraduate education. You are instructed in large lecture halls, often by teaching assistants (graduate students) or green assistant professors rather than tenured professors. You have little contact with professors (especially in your freshman and sophomore introductory classes) unless you make an effort to attend office hours. These large public research universities are usually poor for undergrads, but great for grad students on Ph.D tracks.

Exceptions: great for smart undergrads are small or medium-sized, private top ranked research universities like Cal.Tech, MIT, Princeton, Harvard or Stanford where student/faculty ratios are much lower and even undergrads actually interact with exceptional professors. If you get picked to attend one of these, and get a free ride, accept.

Next best or maybe just as good--if not accepted by one of the above, consider small private colleges with exceptional undergraduate programs, and small classes and great profs. Places like Oberlin, Beloit, the Claremont Colleges (Pomona College, Harvey Mudd, etc.). I agree with some of the above comments Rice U. is terrific. An off beat but exceptional college is the one in the Saline Valley of CA profiled on 60 Minutes last week. Ranching, farming and great education. Genius students.

Excellent points!