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US home to 7 of the top 10 universities; 2 public universities outrank Ivy League schools

Three non-U.S. schools, all in Great Britain, rounded out the top 10 in U.S. News and World Report's ranking of global universities.
The University of Washington's campus in Seattle on a sunny day.
Posted at 1:46 PM, Jun 28, 2024

In U.S. News and World Report's ranking of the 2024-25 Best Global Universities, seven out of the top 10 are in the United States.

Among the top 10-ranked universities in the U.S., two public universities outranked several Ivy League institutions.

The ranking listed Harvard University as the No. 1 university in the world, followed by Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Stanford University.

Coming in at No. 5 was the University of California Berkeley; and at No. 8, the University of Washington. The public universities were ahead of Ivy League schools such as Columbia and Yale.

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Some universities have shied away from such college rankings following allegations that some schools inflated data to provide to outlets like U.S. News and World Report.

The University of Washington, however, embraced its high-level ranking that beat out numerous elite universities.

“Impact is at the heart of everything we collectively accomplish, and I am honored to see the UW once again recognized as ranking highly among the world’s best research universities,” said UW President Ana Mari Cauce.

Three non-U.S. schools, all in Great Britain, also made the top 10.

U.S. News and World Report says it considered 2,250 institutions from over 100 countries using 13 indicators that "measure their academic research performance and their global and regional reputations."

The top 10 universities in the world, as ranked by U.S. News and World Report, are:

  1. Harvard University
  2. Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
  3. Stanford University
  4. University of Oxford
  5. University of California Berkeley
  6. University of Cambridge
  7. University College London
  8. University of Washington Seattle
  9. Columbia University
  10. Yale University