QS World University Rankings 2014: Science and Technology Innovation Drives Leadership of MIT, Cambridge and Imperial

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Sep 15, 2014, 05:00 ET

LONDON, September 15, 2014 /PRNewswire/ --

http://www.TopUniversities.com/rankings2014 #QSWUR

10-year anniversary of the QS World University Rankings (PRNewsFoto/QS Quacquarelli Symonds)

The global emphasis on high-impact scientific and technological research is the key driver of leadership in the QS World University Rankings 2014.

(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20140915/705973 )

MIT leads for the third year and increased its year-on-year citations per faculty by 14%. Imperial College also reported a 14% increase in this metric compared to 11% by Cambridge and 2% by Harvard. The average increase amongst the top 10 was 7%.
Caltech remains the world's top university for research citations.

All the top ten institutions achieve excellence in academic reputation, employer reputation, student faculty ratio or measures of international faculty and students. The performance of Imperial College in citations per faculty has helped it become the biggest climber in the top 10, leapfrogging Harvard, UCL and Oxford to rank second equal in the world, tied with University of Cambridge.

London is the only city in the world with five universities in the Top 100. The Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, says: "These rankings consolidate London's position as the education capital of the world. Nowhere else can be found such a critical mass of top universities."

    2014        2013        Top Ten
    1           1           Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)   US
    2=          3           University of Cambridge                       UK
    2=          5           Imperial College London (UCL)                 UK
    4           2           Harvard University                            US
    5=          6           University of Oxford                          UK
    5=          4           University College London                     UK
    7           7           Stanford University                           US
    8           10          California Institute of Technology (Caltech)  US
    9           10          Princeton University                          US
    10          8           Yale University                               US
                          (c) QS Quacquarelli Symonds 2004-2014

http://www.TopUniversities.com/rankings2014

31 countries are represented in the top 200; The US is the dominant nation, with 51 institutions, ahead of the UK (29), Germany (13), The Netherlands (11), Canada (10), Japan (10) and Australia (8).

The fastest risers since 2009 are:
MIT
Sungkyunkwan University
EPFL
Stanford
LMU München
Nanyang Technological University
Korea University
Zhejiang University
Queen Mary, University of London
ETH Zurich

Eight of these institutions feature key strengths in science and technology.

Ben Sowter, QS head of research says: "Tech-focused institutions are the focal point of a global race for innovation. With budgets from public sources coming under strain, institutions seem more focused than ever on potentially lucrative research in science, technology and medicine."

For a decade QS rankings have shed light on the continued evolution of higher education, helping to guide practitioners, along with the students that QS strives to serve.

Full results, Top 800 universities: http://www.TopUniversities.com/rankings2014

SOURCE QS Quacquarelli Symonds