QS Higher Education Rankings 2014

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) remains the top-ranked university, having reached number one for the first time last year. Next is Harvard, which topped the QS World University Rankings for the first six years in which they were published. After falling to third last year, Harvard has now moved back to second place at the expense of the UK’s University of Cambridge.

Cambridge, at third, is immediately followed by three more UK universities. University College London (UCL) stays in 4th, while Imperial College London climbs one place to 5th, overtaking Oxford University, now 6th.

Completing the top 10 are Stanford, Yale, the University of Chicago, California Institute of Technology (Caltech) and Princeton – the last two share 10th place.

More broadly, US and UK universities continue to dominate the top tier of the rankings, occupying 17 of the top 20 places. However, there is greater diversity beyond this. US universities represent less than a third of the top 100 universities and exactly a quarter of the top 200. Like last year, the UK has 19 universities in the top 100 and 30 in the top 200.

Resurgence for Continental European universities

After several years in the doldrums, Continental European universities are enjoying a period of resurgence. This is led by Switzerland, which now has two universities in the top 20, following a leap of 10 places by Ecole Polytechnique Federal de Lausanne (EPFL). ETH Zurich is the highest-placed university outside the English-speaking world, having moved up to 12th.