2012/13 QS World University Rankings

LONDON, September 11, 2012 /PRNewswire/ --

MIT leapfrogs Cambridge and Harvard as world's number one university

Top 700 www.topuniversities.com

Highlights:

• UK: Cambridge (2), UCL (4), Oxford (5) and Imperial (6) make the top ten;
• Australia: ANU (24) widens gap with Melbourne (36)
•  Canada: Toronto (19) joins McGill (18) in top 20 for first time
• Asia: HKU (23) leads NUS (25) and Tokyo (30); no Indian university in top 200 while China has two in top 50: Peking (44) and Tsinghua (48) and other five in top 200
• Europe: top nine French universities fall; still no German university in top 50 despite Excellence Initiative; Switzerland: ETH Zurich (13) leads EPFL (29): seven universities in top 150
• Latin America: USP (139) leads UNAM (146) and PUC (195); 42 total in top 700
• Middle East: Top six all improve, led by King Saud (197) and KFUPM (208), 23 in top 700

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Cambridge is once again home to the world's number one university. Yet this year the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, not the UK's second-placed Cambridge University, takes the crown for the first time.

The Cambridge, Massachusetts-based research powerhouse is propelled to the top spot by its superior citation rates and student/faculty ratio, alongside an increase in international faculty.

Neighboring Harvard University slips to third, having topped the table every year between 2004 and 2009. In contrast, MIT has risen steadily up the rankings from 10^th in 2007.

"The rise of MIT coincides with a global shift in emphasis toward science and technology", says QS head of research Ben Sowter. "MIT perfects a blueprint that is now being followed by a new wave of cutting-edge tech-focused institutions, especially in Asia".

Nine of the top 10 tech-focused universities improve their position, led by MIT, Imperial College (6), Caltech (10) and ETH Zurich (13). Korea's KAIST (63) is the biggest riser in the top 100, while Hong Kong's HKUST (33) and Singapore's Nanyang Technological University (47) continue their rapid ascent. Both were founded in the last 21 years.  

A record 72 countries are featured in the top 700, following a rapid acceleration in international mobility. The top 100 universities average nearly 10% more international students than in 2011, the biggest single-year increase in the rankings' nine-year history.

Sowter states: "The unprecedented acceleration in international recruitment reflects an escalating global battle for talent. 120,000 more international students were reported by the top 500 universities this year. Total number of international students now exceeds 4.1 million globally".

SOURCE QS Quacquarelli Symonds