University Rankings

A ranking is a relationship between a set of items such that, for any two items, the first is either 'ranked higher than', 'ranked lower than' or 'ranked equal to' the second. In mathematics, this is known as a weak order or total preorder of objects. It is not necessarily a total order of objects because two different objects can have the same ranking. The rankings themselves are totally ordered. For example, materials are totally preordered by hardness, while degrees of hardness are totally ordered.

By reducing detailed measures to a sequence of ordinal numbers, rankings make it possible to evaluate complex information according to certain criteria. Thus, for example, an Internet search engine may rank the pages it finds according to an estimation of their relevance, making it possible for the user quickly to select the pages they are likely to want to see.

Analysis of data obtained by ranking commonly requires non-parametric statistics.


THE - QS World University Rankings 2009 - top universities

Source: QS Quacquarelli Symonds (http://www.topuniversities.com/) Copyright © 2004-2009

1 HARVARD University, United States

2 University of CAMBRIDGE, United Kingdom

3 YALE University, United States

4 UCL (University College London), United Kingdom

5= IMPERIAL College London, United Kingdom

5= University of OXFORD, United Kingdom

7 University of CHICAGO, United States

8 PRINCETON University, United States

9 Massachusetts Institute of Technology (m..., United States

10 California Institute of Technology (calt..., United States

11 COLUMBIA University, United States

12 University of PENNSYLVANIA, United States

13 JOHNS HOPKINS University, United States

14 DUKE University, United States

15 CORNELL University, United States

16 STANFORD University, United States

17 AUSTRALIAN National University, Australia

18 Mcgill University, Canada

19 University of MICHIGAN, United States

20= ETH Zurich (Swiss Federal Institute of T..., Switzerland

20= University of EDINBURGH, United Kingdom

22 University of TOKYO, Japan

23 KING'S College London, United Kingdom

24 University of HONG KONG, Hong Kong

25 KYOTO University, Japan

26 University of MANCHESTER, United Kingdom

27 CARNEGIE MELLON University, United States

28 Ecole Normale Superieure, PARIS, France

29 University of TORONTO, Canada

30 National University of Singapore (NUS), Singapore

31 BROWN University, United States

32= NORTHWESTERN University, United States

32= University of California, Los Angeles (u..., United States

34 University of BRISTOL, United Kingdom

35 HONG KONG University of Science And Tech..., Hong Kong

36= École Polytechnique, France

36= University of MELBOURNE, Australia

36= University of SYDNEY, Australia

39 University of California, BERKELEY, United States

40 University of BRITISH COLUMBIA, Canada

41 University of QUEENSLAND, Australia

42 Federal Polytechnic School of LAUSANNE, Switzerland

43= OSAKA University, Japan

43= TRINITY College Dublin, Ireland

45 MONASH University, Australia

46 The Chinese University of HONG KONG, Hong Kong

47= SEOUL National University, Korea, South

47= University of NEW SOUTH WALES, Australia

49= TSINGHUA University, China

49= University of AMSTERDAM, Netherlands

51 University of COPENHAGEN, Denmark

52= NEW YORK University (nyu), United States

52= PEKING University, China

54 BOSTON University, United States

55= Technical University of MUNICH, Germany

55= TOKYO Institute of Technology, Japan

57 HEIDELBERG University, Germany

58 University of WARWICK, United Kingdom

59 University of ALBERTA, Canada

60 LEIDEN University, Netherlands

61= The University of AUCKLAND, New Zealand

61= University of Wisconsin-madison, United States

63= AARHUS University, Denmark

63= University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (U of I), United States

65 Catholic University of LEUVEN, Belgium

66 University of BIRMINGHAM, United Kingdom

67= London School of Economics And Political..., United Kingdom

67= LUND University, Sweden

69 Kaist - Korea Advanced Institute of Scie..., Korea, South

70= University of YORK, United Kingdom

70= UTRECHT University, Netherlands

72 University of GENEVA, Switzerland

73= Nanyang Technological University (NTU), Singapore

73= WASHINGTON University In St. Louis, United States

75 UPPSALA University, Sweden

76= University of CALIFORNIA, San Diego, United States

76= University of TEXAS At Austin, United States

78 University of NORTH CAROLINA, Chapel Hil..United States .

79 University of GLASGOW, United Kingdom

80 University of WASHINGTON, United States

81 University of ADELAIDE, Australia

82 University of SHEFFIELD, United Kingdom

83 DELFT University of Technology, Netherlands

84 University of WESTERN AUSTRALIA, Australia

85 DARTMOUTH College, United States

86 GEORGIA Institute of Technology, United States

87= PURDUE University, United States

87= University of ST ANDREWS, United Kingdom

89 University College DUBLIN, Ireland

90 EMORY University, United States

91 University of NOTTINGHAM, United Kingdom

92= NAGOYA University, Japan

92= University of ZURICH, Switzerland

94 Free University of BERLIN, Germany

95= NATIONAL TAIWAN University (NTU), Taiwan

95= University of SOUTHAMPTON, United Kingdom

97 TOHOKU University, Japan

98 Ludwig Maximilian - University of MUNICH... Germany

99 University of LEEDS, United Kingdom

100 RICE University, United States