LONDON, Wednesday, September 8th 2010 [ME NewsWire]:

(BUSINESS WIRE)– Cambridge becomes the first non-US university ever to head the QS World University Rankings®, in the 7th annual edition published today.

* Harvard, which has topped the table since 2004 drops to 2nd place

* MIT jumps to 5th from 9th, reflecting a strong performance by technology universities

* 22 countries represented in the Top 100 – up from 19 last year

* Over 15,000 academics surveyed including 700 university leaders

World’s Top 10 universities

2010

2009

Institution Name

Country

1

2

University of Cambridge

UK

2

1

Harvard University

USA

3

3

Yale University

USA

4

4

UCL (University College London)

UK

5

9

MIT

USA

6

5=

University of Oxford

UK

7

5=

Imperial College London

UK

8

7

University of Chicago

USA

9

10

California Institute of Technology (Caltech)

USA

10

8

Princeton University

USA

© Quacquarelli Symonds Ltd 2010. www.topuniversities.com. All rights reserved

The University of Cambridge was voted the best for research quality, as selected by over 15,000 academics around the world. Although Harvard was the most popular among the 5,007 employers polled globally, Cambridge edged ahead overall.

QS World University Rankings® measure university research quality, graduate employability, teaching commitment and international commitment. QS rankings use a combination of global surveys and audited data including citation counts from Scopus, the world’s largest database of academic publishing.

Ben Sowter, head of research at QS says “Unlike other rankings systems which rely heavily on statistical indicators of university research, QS also takes into account the most up-to-date views of employers and academics, reflecting the broader interests of students and parents. QS rankings reflect the highly competitive environment of global higher education.”

John O’ Leary, executive member of the QS Academic Advisory Board says:

“Governments around the world have been directing academics to be more actively engaged with their peers, partly in response to rankings. This has resulted in 50 countries, more than ever before, being featured in the QS Top 500.”

Sowter continues “Given the uncertain economic outlook, it is reassuring for students that the top 200 universities are also, by and large, the most popular universities with employers, suggesting that a world-class degree remains the best path to a great job.”

Top 200 results and methodology is available on www.topuniversities.com.

For media enquiries, please contact:

Simona Bizzozero
Head of Public Relations
m: +44(0)7880 620 856
t: +44 (0) 20 7284 7248
e: simona@qs.com