Global University Ranking 2016

TOP 100 UNIVERSITY RANKINGS TO PURSUE UNDERGRADUATE PROGRAM: AN ALL-INCLUSIVE SURVEY OF UNIVERSITIES ACROSS THE WORLD

Having conducted extensive research by contacting 1900 institutes and over 9000 recruiters around the world, Youth Inc has ranked the top 100 universities in the world where you can pursue an undergraduate programme
Welcome to the Youth Incorporated, Education Times and Rediff.com Global University Rankings 2016. Continuing with our annual rankings for the best global universities, we have conducted extensive research work spanning several months to sort through voluminous raw data and bring out a finished analysis that is practical and can be instrumental in the selection process for students looking to enroll in the best programmes the world over.
We got in touch with 1900 institutes to gauge their responses to unbiased questions that would help us evaluate the quality of the educational experience provided by them. We also considered the responses from the current students attending the universities as well as official responses from their respective administrative bodies. In addition to this, we procured information from 9000 recruiters that have previously recruited graduates from the institutes considered in the surveys. Once the data was gathered, we broke down the information by placing emphasis on the most important criteria a student considers when enrolling in an institute. Factors such as value for money, student and recruiter satisfaction, infrastructure and facilities, teaching methodologies and much more were considered while ranking the institutes. This meticulous method was employed by us to bring out the rankings of the top 100 universities worldwide. We were also able to provide rankings based on regional distribution and streams of study. To give the readers a holistic view of how a particular institute has fared over the years, the ranking for this year was placed against our previously conducted annual rankings. We hope our in depth survey will guide students in making the right choice yet again!

RANK	INSTITUTE	COUNTRY	SCORE	2015 RANK	2014 RANK	2013 RANK	2012 RANK
1	HARVARD UNIVERSITY	USA	100	1-	1-	1-	1-
2	STANFORD UNIVERSITY	USA	99	2-	2-	2-	2-
3	MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY	USA	98	4	5	4	3-
4	UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA	USA	97	5	3	3	7
5	COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY	USA	96.5	7	9	8	8
6	UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD	UK	96	3	4	5	4
7	UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO	USA	95.7	6	6	6	5
8	CORNELL UNIVERSITY	USA	95	9	8-	10	10
9	CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY	USA	94.5	11	11	12	12
10	IE UNIVERSITY	SPAIN	94	14	25	29	37
11	PRINCETON UNIVERSITY	USA	93.7	8	10	9	11-
12	YALE UNIVERSITY	USA	93	10	7	7	6
13	LONDON SCHOOL OF ECONOMICS	UK	92	12	13-	16	20
14	IMPERIAL COLLEGE LONDON	UK	91.5	13	12	13	9
15	UNIVERSITY OF TOKYO	JAPAN	91	15-	15-	17	17
16	UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE	UK	90.4	16-	14	11	18
17	NEW YORK UNIVERSITY	USA	90.1	18	21	23	25
18	CARNEGIE MELLON UNIVERSITY	USA	89.4	22	19	22	22
19	ECOLE NORMALE SUPERIEURE	FRANCE	88.5	23	26	25	21
20	INDIAN INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY MUMBAI	INDIA	88	20-	24	19	31
21	UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN ANN ARBOR	USA	87	21-	20	20	15
22	BROWN UNIVERSITY	USA	86.5	19	16	14	24
23	UNIVERSITY OF WATERLOO	CANADA	86	17	17	15	–
24	INDIAN INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY DELHI	INDIA	85	27	27	27	–
25	NATIONAL UNIVERSITY SINGAPORE	SINGAPORE	84	25-	23	26	29
26	UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA AT LOS ANGELES	USA	83	24	18	21	23
27	HONG KONG UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY	CHINA	82	28	29	33	35
28	UNIVERSITY OF MELBOURNE	AUSTRALIA	81	26	22	24	19
29	DUKE UNIVERSITY	USA	80.5	33	33	28	28
30	UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA BERKELEY	USA	80.1	29	30-	31	NO
31	NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY	USA	79.4	31-	28	18	14
32	LUDWIG-MAXIMILIANS-UNIVERSITAT MUNCHEN	GERMANY	79	30	32-	32-	32-
33	UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA	USA	78	38	41	39	43
34	UNIVERSIDADE DE SAO PAULO	BRAZIL	77	39	39	41	47
35	ECOLE POLYTECHNIQUE FEDERALE DE LAUSANNE	SWITZERLAND	76	36	36	36	36
36	KING’S COLLEGE LONDON	UK	75.5	41	43	43	40
37	UNIVERSITY COLLEGE LONDON	UK	75	34	37-	37-	26
38	CHINESE UNIVERSITY OF HONG KONG	CHINA	74.6	32	31	30	27
39	UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT AUSTIN	USA	74	40	40	45	45
40	UNIVERSITY OF COPENHAGEN	DENMARK	73.7	43	45	40-	38
41	RICE UNIVERSITY	USA	73.2	44	44	44	44
42	UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA	CANADA	73	45	46	46	42-
43	EMORY UNIVERSITY	USA	72.8	35	38	35	33
44	UNIVERSITY OF ZURICH	SWITZERLAND	72.4	42	42	42	39
45	JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY	USA	72	37	35	34	34
46	TECHNISCHE UNIVERSITAT MUNCHEN	GERMANY	71	51	47	50	53
47	PONTIFICIA UNIVERSIDAD CATOLICA DE CHILE	CHILE	70	53	53	48	48
48	DARTMOUTH COLLEGE	USA	69	46	34	38	41
49	UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA	USA	68.6	54	57	61	57
50	HEC	FRANCE	68.2	47	50-	53	55
51	UNIVERSITY OF HELSINKI	FINLAND	67.3	49	49	51-	51-
52	UNIVERSITAT HEIDELBERG	GERMANY	67.1	52-	52-	49	50
53	PEKING UNIVERSITY	CHINA	66.5	48	48	47	52
54	UNIVERSITY OF SYDNEY	AUSTRALIA	66	50	51	52	46
55	FUDAN UNIVERSITY	CHINA	65	56	56	57	69
56	AUSTRALIAN NATIONAL UNIVERSITY	AUSTRALIA	64	58	58	58	58
57	ECOLE POLYTECHNIQUE	FRANCE	63	64	68	64	71
58	TOKYO INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY	JAPAN	62	60	59	59	66
59	UNIVERSIDAD DE BUENOS AIRES	ARGENTINA	61	57	55	55	56
60	MONASH UNIVERSITY	AUSTRALIA	60	65	65	65	67
61	UNIVERSITY OF EDINBURGH	UK	59.8	68	70	70	64
62	VANDERBILT UNIVERSITY	USA	59.2	55	62-	54	49
63	ERASMUS UNIVERSITY ROTTERDAM	NETHERLANDS	58.6	67	67	67	70
64	NANYANG TECHNOLOGICAL UNIVERSITY	SINGAPORE	58.3	61	54	56	61
65	UNIVERSITY OF WARWICK	UK	58	59	61	62	75
66	SEOUL NATIONAL UNIVERSITY	KOREA	57.8	62	60	60	60
67	UNIVERSITY OF BIRMINGHAM	UK	57.3	63	66	66	–
68	UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA CHAPEL HILL	USA	57	71	71	71	65
69	UNIVERSITY OF QUEENSLAND	AUSTRALIA	56.4	73	76	77	77
70	UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN MADISON	USA	56	66	64	63	62
71	UNIVERSITY OF NEW SOUTH WALES	AUSTRALIA	55	69	69	69	59
72	TOHOKU UNIVERSITY	JAPAN	54.6	74	78	73	73
73	UNIVERSIDAD NACIONAL AUTONOMA DE MEXICO	MEXICO	54	72	72	68	68
74	PARIS DAUPHINE UNIVERSITY	FRANCE	53	70	73	85	85
75	UNIVERSITY OF ROCHESTER	USA	52	81	81	80	84
76	INDIAN INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY KANPUR	INDIA	51	80	86	79	–
77	UPPSALA UNIVERSITY	SWEDEN	50.5	83	80	75	74
78	ESADE BUSINESS SCHOOL	SPAIN	50	85	88	–	–
79	UNIVERSITY OF BERN	SWITZERLAND	49	79-	83	82	81
80	UNIVERSITY OF DELHI	INDIA	48	90	97	99	–
81	UNIVERSITY OF YORK	UK	47	87	87	91	94
82	UNIVERSITY OF GRONINGEN	NETHERLANDS	46	78	82-	81	80
83	UNIVERSITY OF SURREY	UK	45.2	75	75	84	–
84	NATIONAL TAIWAN UNIVERSITY	TAIWAN	45	84-	79	78	78
85	UNIVERSITY OF AUCKLAND	NEW ZEALAND	44	76	63	72	76
86	UNIVERSITY OF ADELAIDE	AUSTRALIA	43	86-	84	83	83
87	TSINGHUA UNIVERSITY	CHINA	42	77	74	74	72
88	ECOLE CENTRALE DE PARIS	FRANCE	41.4	88-	85	86	88
89	UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON	USA	41	89-	89-	89-	89-
90	GEORGIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY	USA	40.8	82	77	76	82
91	UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCES PHILADELPHIA	USA	40.3	93	90	95	–
92	STOCKHOLM UNIVERSITY	SWEDEN	40	92-	95	87	91
93	BRADLEY UNIVERSITY	USA	39.5	96	98	98	–
94	UNIVERSITY OF HAWAII HILO	USA	39.1	97	100	–	–
95	PURDUE UNIVERSITY	USA	38.6	91	91	96	92
96	UNIVERSITY OF AMSTERDAM	NETHERLANDS	38.1	94	94	90	86
97	GRENOBLE ECOLE DE MANAGEMENT	FRANCE	37	98	99	100	–
98	UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURG BRADFORD	USA	36	95	93	93	–
99	HERIOT-WATT UNIVERSITY	UK	35	100	96	97	–
100	WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY ST LOUIS	USA	34	99	92	92	87

How have the institutes fared compared to 2014 and 2015?

Placing the 2016 top rankings against those we conducted in 2014 and 2015, a comparison of the performance of the institutes over the years in clearly visible.
Harvard University has retained its pole position at the top of the rankings with a perfect score that it managed to attain in the previous years as well. Stanford University and Massachusetts Institute of Technology rank second and third respectively with near perfect scores. The top 10 of 2015 have managed to stay at the top of the table with a few universities improving on their previous rank and a few dropping by a rank or two. The top 10 continues to be dominated by American institutes with the exception of University of Oxford and IE University which has moved up to rank 10 this year.
Among the Asian universities, University of Tokyo retains its position at rank 15 from 2015 and 2014. It’s followed by Indian Institute of Technology Bombay which has retained its position at 20 and the Indian Institute of Technology Delhi which has moved up to rank 24 followed by the National University of Singapore which is at 25 since last year.
As is evident, most universities in the top 100 seem to show a consistent performance over the years with
similar rankings.

The India Story

The 2016 Global University Rankings haven’t had too much of an effect on Indian Universities per se. The four colleges that have always appeared in our rankings are still the same, and we haven’t seen any new college rising up to the top 100 as we would have hoped. IIT-Bombay managed to crack into the top 20 of the world in 2015, and has managed to maintain its position at the same rank. IIT-Delhi fared very well, jumping up three spaces from its earlier 27th rank, and is now ranked at 24 in the global rankings. IIT-Kanpur also showed a positive climb, jumping up 4 spaces from its 2015’s 80th rank to the 76th in 2016. Considering IIT-Delhi and IIT-Kanpur had both been showing considerable consistency over the past few years, we were optimistic of this climb. We hope to see IIT-Delhi in the top 20 next year, or at least closer to the mark.
India has always been a youthcentric country. The latest 2011 census data that was released this January showed that around 41 percent of India’s population is below the age of 20 years, with more than 50% below the age of 25. A recent UN report also reported India to have the largest youth population in the world, and this is despite having a smaller overall population than China. There is a high demand for quality education in the country, sure, but are we supplying this demand? There is a lot of talk about how Indian students prefer to study abroad and then eventually end up settling there, thus not spending their valuable resources on developing India. But can we blame them? With just four Indian universities in the top 100 global rankings, students preferring to study abroad to better their chances of getting a more advanced education should not come as a surprise. Universities abroad also show an advanced level of infrastructure and placement opportunities, which is a key factor that students consider while deciding upon where to pursue their future studies.
For a country that bases its youngsters’ success on their education, at least from a societal perspective, India certainly needs to focus more on developing its educational institutes further.

Best Regional Universities 2016

TOP EUROPEAN UNIVERSITIES 2016

RANK	INSTITUTE	COUNTRY
1	UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD	UK
2	IE UNIVERSITY	SPAIN
3	LONDON SCHOOL OF ECONOMICS	UK
4	IMPERIAL COLLEGE LONDON	UK
5	UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE	UK
6	ECOLE NORMALE SUPERIEURE	FRANCE
7	LUDWIG-MAXIMILIANS-UNIVERSITAT MUNCHEN	GERMANY
8	KING’S COLLEGE LONDON	UK
9	UNIVERSITY COLLEGE LONDON	UK
10	ECOLE POLYTECHNIQUE FEDERALE DE LAUSANNE	SWITZERLAND

TOP US UNIVERSITIES 2016

RANK	INSTITUTE	COUNTRY
1	HARVARD UNIVERSITY	USA
2	STANFORD UNIVERSITY	USA
3	MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY	USA
4	UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA	USA
5	COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY	USA
6	UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO	USA
7	CORNELL UNIVERSITY	USA
8	CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY	USA
9	PRINCETON UNIVERSITY	USA
10	YALE UNIVERSITY	USA

TOP ASIAN UNIVERSITIES 2016

RANK	INSTITUTE	COUNTRY
1	UNIVERSITY OF TOKYO	JAPAN
2	INDIAN INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY MUMBAI	INDIA
3	INDIAN INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY DELHI	INDIA
4	NATIONAL UNIVERSITY SINGAPORE	SINGAPORE
5	HONG KONG UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY	CHINA
6	CHINESE UNIVERSITY OF HONG KONG	HONG KONG
7	PEKING UNIVERSITY	CHINA
8	FUDAN UNIVERSITY	CHINA
9	TOKYO INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY	JAPAN
10	NANYANG TECHNOLOGICAL UNIVERSITY	SINGAPORE

TOP AUSTRALIAN UNIVERSITIES 2016

RANK	INSTITUTE	COUNTRY
1	UNIVERSITY OF MELBOURNE	AUSTRALIA
2	UNIVERSITY OF SYDNEY	AUSTRALIA
3	AUSTRALIAN NATIONAL UNIVERSITY	AUSTRALIA
4	MONASH UNIVERSITY	AUSTRALIA
5	UNIVERSITY OF QUEENSLAND	AUSTRALIA
6	UNIVERSITY OF NEW SOUTH WALES	AUSTRALIA
7	UNIVERSITY OF ADELAIDE	AUSTRALIA

Top Universities In Different Streams

PURE SCIENCES

RANK	INSTITUTE	COUNTRY
1	HARVARD UNIVERSITY	USA
2	MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY	USA
3	NATIONAL UNIVERSITY SINGAPORE	SINGAPORE
4	PRINCETON UNIVERSITY	USA
5	CORNELL UNIVERSITY	USA
6	STANFORD UNIVERSITY	USA
7	YALE UNIVERSITY	USA
8	UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD	UK
9	UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE	UK
10	UNIVERSITY OF TOKYO	JAPAN

ENGINEERING PROGRAMS

RANK	INSTITUTE	COUNTRY
1	CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY	USA
2	MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY	USA
3	STANFORD UNIVERSITY	USA
4	INDIAN INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY MUMBAI	INDIA
5	NATIONAL UNIVERSITY SINGAPORE	SINGAPORE
6	CORNELL UNIVERSITY	USA
7	IMPERIAL COLLEGE LONDON	UK
8	INDIAN INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY DELHI	INDIA
9	COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY	USA
10	GEORGIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY	USA

LIFE SCIENCES & MEDICINE

RANK	INSTITUTE	COUNTRY
1	STANFORD UNIVERSITY	USA
2	HARVARD UNIVERSITY	USA
3	UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE	UK
4	JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY	USA
5	UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA BERKELEY	USA
6	YALE UNIVERSITY	USA
7	UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD	UK
8	UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA	USA
9	IMPERIAL COLLEGE LONDON	UK
10	CORNELL UNIVERSITY	USA

ART AND HUMANITIES

RANK	INSTITUTE	COUNTRY
1	STANFORD UNIVERSITY	USA
2	HARVARD UNIVERSITY	USA
3	UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE	UK
4	PRINCETON UNIVERSITY	USA
5	YALE UNIVERSITY	USA
6	UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD	UK
7	NATIONAL UNIVERSITY SINGAPORE	SINGAPORE
8	COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY	USA
9	CORNELL UNIVERSITY	USA
10	UNIVERSITY OF TOKYO	JAPAN

BUSINESS PROGRAMS

RANK	INSTITUTE	COUNTRY
1	HARVARD UNIVERSITY	USA
2	IE UNIVERSITY	SPAIN
3	NATIONAL UNIVERSITY SINGAPORE	SINGAPORE
4	STANFORD UNIVERSITY	USA
5	COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY	USA
6	CORNELL UNIVERSITY	USA
7	LONDON SCHOOL OF ECONOMICS	UK
8	MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY	USA
9	UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE	UK
10	UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN ANN ARBOR	USA

What Students Want

BEST VALUE FOR MONEY

RANK	INSTITUTE	COUNTRY
1	INDIAN INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY MUMBAI	INDIA
2	INDIAN INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY DELHI	INDIA
3	HONG KONG UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY	CHINA
4	UNIVERSITAT HEIDELBERG	GERMANY
5	UNIVERSITY OF TOKYO	JAPAN
6	IE UNIVERSITY	SPAIN
7	CORNELL UNIVERSITY	USA
8	NATIONAL UNIVERSITY SINGAPORE	SINGAPORE
9	COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY	USA
10	PRINCETON UNIVERSITY	USA

STUDENT SATISFACTION

RANK	INSTITUTE	COUNTRY
1	STANFORD UNIVERSITY	USA
2	HARVARD UNIVERSITY	USA
3	IE UNIVERSITY	SPAIN
4	UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO	USA
5	UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA	USA
6	ECOLE NORMALE SUPERIEURE	FRANCE
7	COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY	USA
8	UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD	UK
9	CORNELL UNIVERSITY	USA
10	YALE UNIVERSITY	USA

There are a lot of individual factors that students consider while selecting an university to study abroad. We rated the prestigious universities across the world based on such individual factors. These ratings have been given according to the responses of the current students in the institutes

RECRUITER SATISFACTION

RANK	INSTITUTE	COUNTRY
1	HARVARD UNIVERSITY	USA
2	STANFORD UNIVERSITY	USA
3	IE UNIVERSITY	SPAIN
4	UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA	USA
5	INDIAN INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY MUMBAI	INDIA
6	COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY	USA
7	YALE UNIVERSITY	USA
8	NEW YORK UNIVERSITY	USA
9	HONG KONG UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY	CHINA
10	CARNEGIE MELLON UNIVERSITY	USA

CAMPUS FACILITIES

RANK	INSTITUTE	COUNTRY
1	HARVARD UNIVERSITY	USA
2	COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY	USA
3	STANFORD UNIVERSITY	USA
4	PRINCETON UNIVERSITY	USA
5	MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY	USA
6	YALE UNIVERSITY	USA
7	UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE	UK
8	NATIONAL UNIVERSITY SINGAPORE	SINGAPORE
9	CORNELL UNIVERSITY	USA
10	UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA	USA

INNOVATION IN TEACHING METHODOLOGIES

RANK	INSTITUTE	COUNTRY
1	IE UNIVERSITY	SPAIN
2	HARVARD UNIVERSITY	USA
3	STANFORD UNIVERSITY	USA
4	COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY	USA
5	NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY	USA
6	CARNEGIE MELLON UNIVERSITY	USA
7	ECOLE NORMALE SUPERIEURE	FRANCE
8	LUDWIG-MAXIMILIANS-UNIVERSITAT MUNCHEN	GERMANY
9	PRINCETON UNIVERSITY	USA
10	UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO	USA

CAREER SERVICES

RANK	INSTITUTE	COUNTRY
1	HARVARD UNIVERSITY	USA
2	STANFORD UNIVERSITY	USA
3	UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA	USA
4	IE UNIVERSITY	SPAIN
5	CORNELL UNIVERSITY	USA
6	MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY	USA
7	COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY	USA
8	INDIAN INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY MUMBAI	INDIA
9	CARNEGIE MELLON UNIVERSITY	USA
10	PRINCETON UNIVERSITY	USA

RANKING ANALYSIS

THE TEACHING FACULTY AT MY INSTITUTION ARE VERY RECEPTIVE DISCUSSIONS, QUESTIONS AND NEW IDEAS
80 per cent of students polled from our top 100 universities agreed that their teaching faculty was open to discussions, questions and new ideas. This is one of the best indicators of a good educational institute, so it is clear that the best institutes encourage interaction between the students and faculty.

THE PROGRAMMES TAUGHT IN MY INSTITUTE ARE INNOVATIVE AND INCLUDE COMPANY VISITS.
75 per cent of students at the top 100 institutes agreed that the programmes that they were taught were innovative. Education is constantly evolving, and the best institutes update their curricula regularly to keep in touch with the times.

MY CLASSMATES ENHANCE MY LEARNING EXPERIENCE BY CONTRIBUTING TO CLASS DISCUSSIONS.
80 per cent of students polled felt that their learning experience was greatly enhanced by their peers’
contributions. The best institutes competitively select the best students, and learning at these top 100 is clearly enhanced by the quality of classroom discussions.

THERE IS SUFFICIENT GENDER DIVERSITY IN MY CLASS
45 per cent of students polled felt that the gender diversity in their classes was insufficient. These top institutes need to do more to encourage women to take up science and business related fields to encourage gender equality in society.

THERE IS SUFFICIENT INTERNATIONAL DIVERSITY IN MY CLASS.
70 per cent of students polled felt that the international diversity in their classes was sufficient. International diversity is a strong factor that attracts students from all over the world to study at these top institutes. In recent years, the numbers of scholarships offered to international students have been reduced and this trend needs to be checked to maintain a diverse classroom.

I FEEL THAT MY INSTITUTION PROVIDES VALUE FOR THE MONEY I PAID.
70 per cent of students polled felt that the institutes they were at did not provide value for money. The top 100 institutes in our rankings list are the most expensive to study in the world. With the economic crisis affecting most of the West and fluctuations in the Asian markets, it has become more difficult for gradates to find jobs. The institutes need to work harder to build up their career services and internship opportunities for students.

RANKING METHODOLOGY

We chose institutes across the world after having discussions with thousands of students, recruiters and faculty. Youth Inc’s Research Unit (YRU) also studied domestic rankings in various countries to find the best institutes

We sent survey links to 1900 institutes and provided them with unique codes so that they could submit their responses online. Institutes were also provided links to online surveys where their current students were asked to rate specific statements that pertained to the factors considered in this ranking. Institutes also sent separate survey links to their recruiters who in turn rated the institute’s career management cell as well as student employability.
Over 9000 additional recruiters were sent emails with a survey link. The recruiter list was prepared from the responses of the institutes and also included internationally well-known recruiters.

CAREERS, RECRUITMENT AND INDUSTRY VIABILITY OF STUDENTS – 55%
This category significantly impacts the overall score of an institute since it is the most weighted factor. One of the most important criterions to select institutes is the student’s industry viability after graduation. Recruiters were asked to list and rate the institutes that they were most likely to recruit from. They were asked the likelihood of recruiting again from the same institute and their satisfaction with the institute’s career cell. Recruiters rated students on various factors including analytical and problem solving skills, leadership potential, communication and interpersonal skills and so on.
Institutes and students were also asked about the availability and functioning of a career service cell on campus and how active such a service was. We also considered what percentage of students were actually placed, both domestically and internationally, through the institute’s career service cell. Students reported the availability and ease of obtaining internships.

DIVERSITY AND INTERNATIONAL OUTLOOK –10%
This category looks not only at diversity of faculty but also at diversity of students in class. The international outlook includes international students that are attracted and retained by the institute. Institutes were asked to report the total number of students on campus and what percentage of the students were international and speak two or more languages. Gender diversity of the students was considered. Institutes also reported the percentage of the faculty that was international, holds a doctorate degree and accredited with their own publishing material along with the gender diversity of the faculty. Students were asked to rate the student and faculty diversity in their class.

INNOVATION – 10%
This category looks at the innovation used to construct and teach programmes and how faculty engage the students; an important factor in the overall perception of an institute.
We considered the different ways in which an institute constructs programmes. Institutes were asked to select from a list of different teaching methodologies that we considered innovative – some of these included company visits, dual or multiple majors and course collaborations between different departments at the institute. Our list was made after surveying students across different campuses worldwide. Students were asked to report how satisfied they are with faculty who use innovative ways to teach subjects.

CAMPUS, EXTRACURRICULAR ACTIVITIES, EXCHANGE PROGRAMMES – 15%
This category considers the support students receive on campus and the availability of extracurricular activities. The exchange programmes offered by the institute and how actively students are encouraged to opt for such programmes was also considered. We asked the institutes to select the different types of assistance provided by the student office or a similar body on campus. Our initial list was selected after surveying students across different campuses worldwide. Students reported if they were encouraged by the institute to participate in different extracurricular activities on campus.
Institutes were asked to report the percentage of students that opted for exchange programs. We also
considered the exchange students present on the institute’s campus.

MONEY, STUDENT SATISFACTION – 10%
This category takes into account a critical part of college education today – finances. And more importantly, how satisfied a student is with the institute. We considered students’ opinions on whether a particular institute was perceived as ‘value for money’. We also asked institutes to state the percentage of students who received some sort of funding from the institutes.
Students were asked to rate their institutes on various factors including attitude of staff and professors, location, course content and so on and institutes were asked to report the graduation rate of students enrolled and what percentage of students transfer out of the institution.

SCORES
We calculated the standard deviation and standard scores (Z scores) so that we could combine and analyse the data with more accuracy and reliability. Below is a summary of the factors and the weightage given to each factor when we ranked the institutes. Each factor was made up of a set of questions. The total percentage attributed to that factor was based on the average score of the responses multiplied by the assigned weightage. The total scores were then sorted from highest to lowest. The institute with the highest score was ranked first.

NOT JUST NUMBERS
After we calculated the total computed scores for the institutes, we subjectively analyzed the data provided by the institutes, current students, and recruiters. If we found discrepancies in the satisfaction scores and the subjective descriptions, we omitted the data. This happened in the case of 5 institutes.

MISSING DATA
In a few rare occasions, some institutes did not supply data for all the questions in the survey. When data was missing which affected factors which were low-weighted such as value for money or campus support, we entered an estimate between the average and the lowest value reported by the institute.
By following such a practice we did not excessively penalise an institution with a ‘zero’ for data that it could not provide. At the same time, the institute was not rewarded.

EXCLUSION OF INSTITUTES
We required that at least 20% of the class size (of any specific institute) answer the student survey. Hence, some institutes were disqualified from our ranking because of rack of responses to the student survey.

INSTITUTES THAT DID NOT FILL OUT THE SURVEY REPORTS IN TIME
Out of 1900 institutes that were contacted, 16% of the institutes did not complete the survey on time or did not respond. We used publicly available information on some of these institutes to include them in our ranking. We also contacted current students and recruiters of these institutes and compared the data we received with the data from institutes that participated in our survey.

Volume 5 Issue 9