World's Best Universities: About the Rankings

U.S.News & World Report's World's Best Universities rankings, based on the Times Higher Education-QS World University Rankings, identified these to be world's top universities in 2009.

Schools by Location The Top 200 Asian and Middle Eastern Australian and New Zealand British and European Canadian Schools by Subject The Top 200 Arts and Humanities Engineering and IT Life Sciences and Biomedicine Natural & Physical Sciences Social Sciences Methodologies World's Best Universities Methodology Subject Area Rankings Methodology Academic Peer Review Citations per Faculty Member Student-to-Faculty Ratio Employer Review Survey International Student and International Faculty Factors Weightings and Statistical Scores About the World's Best Universities Rankings

U.S.News & World Report is proud to publish our second annual version of the World's Best Universities rankings.

These new 2009 World's Best Universities rankings are based on data from the THE-QS World University Rankings, which were produced in association with QS Quacquarelli Symonds. QS Quacquarelli Symonds, one of the world's leading networks for careers and education, has been publishing world rankings since 2004. These rankings have obtained increasing influence among academics worldwide and have a growing effect on prospective students and government policymakers.

The 2009 U.S. News World's Best Universities rankings enable our readers to understand how American institutions perform when compared with other institutions of higher learning. The bottom line is that U.S.-based universities perform very well: Fifty-four of the top 200 universities worldwide, or nearly 27 percent of the total, are located in the United States. The United Kingdom comes next, with 29 schools, or 14.5 percent of the total, making it into the top 200.

When U.S. News started publishing America's Best Colleges rankings over 25 years ago, no one predicted the influence these lists would acquire as both a consumer tool and a force for accountability in American higher education. What began with little fanfare has spawned college rankings in countries around the world. Global institutional ranking systems like the one we are publishing here are variations on the original idea of our national rankings.

The world is rapidly changing. More students and faculty are eager to explore the higher education options that exist outside their countries. Universities worldwide are competing for the best and brightest students, the most highly recognized research faculty, and coveted research dollars. Countries at all levels of economic development are trying to build world-class universities to serve as economic and academic catalysts. And more universities are seeking world-class status to become players on the global academic stage. In other words, the world of higher education is becoming increasingly "flat."

The major research universities in the United States are aware of these global trends and have been expanding and competing internationally for several years. In fact, American higher education's large research-doctoral granting university model is now being copied by universities and higher education systems in many other countries. This new World's Best Universities top 200 rankings help put these global trends in context.

In addition to the overall top 200 world ranking list, we are publishing lists for the Top 30 Asian Universities, Top 20 Australian and New Zealand Universities, Top 20 Canadian Universities, and Top 30 European and U.K. Universities. We also are producing top 50 global rankings in the fields of arts and humanities; engineering and IT; life sciences and biomedicine; natural and physical sciences; and social sciences.