The World's Top 100 Universities

It is no surprise to see the continued dominance of US based universities in the top 10 universities in the world. Institutions such as Harvard, Yale and MIT have become synonymous with academic superiority within the global lexicon, and have long represented the ultimate learning experience and aspiration for students in the USA and abroad.

Though not all league tables draw identical conclusions, the usual suspects are largely present in a similar order of ascension. However, one report published in September 2010 concluded that Harvard - which has long occupied the #1 spot - was second to the University of Cambridge. The QS Table addresses factors such as the quality of research, graduate employability and internationality of faculties and student bodies.

While Harvard remains on top within many other rankings - such as the Times Higher Education World University top Rankings and the ARWU - it was decided that the quality of research carried out at Cambridge was unrivalled, as voted for by 15,000 academics.

Although the top position is one of a largely unchanging nature, the 99 other university rankings are subject to significant fluctuation. While the QS survey ranks Yale as number 3 overall, the ARWU does not consider the university within the top 10.

The University of Edinburgh, ranked 5th in the UK and 40th in the world by the THE, comes in at 54th within the ARWU listing, whilst it receives its best result in the QS survey where the Scottish university comes in at number 22.

The difference is in the metrics used to define the overall performance of university institutions. Whilst ARWU results are informed by a criteria of indicators and weights focusing on the academic propriety of staff - including the proportion of staff who have won a Nobel Prize or Field Medals - THE focus on the learning environment, research influence, and the international mix of staff and students.

For many secondary school students preparing to move on into further education at university, the plethora of ranking tables will serve as a benchmarking tool which will help them in their selection process. For the majority of state school pupils, the top ranking universities will seem out of their reach, if not on an academic basis then certainly on class-based perceptions of inaccessibility.

However, those at the top of the list should not be thought of as the exclusive domain of private schools in Scotland and England. Oxford for instance set themselves increasingly higher state school student intake proportions. Currently, approximately 60% of admissions to the Oxbridge universities are from state schools.