Top Universities in the World

Also known as Cambridge University is located in the United Kingdom in the city of Cambridge. The university is celebrating its 800th year. It is recognized as the second oldest university in the English-speaking world. Cambridge was first established in 1209 by academicians who had left Oxford.

It is the leading university in Europe when it comes to academics. They have also produced 88 Nobel Prize winners. Cambridge is a public university. To date, they have an administrative staff of 8,614 and an enrollment of 18,396 students.

Among the notable alumni of Cambridge University include Sir Isaac Newton, Sir Francis Bacon, Francis Crick and James D. Watson (DNA model), Oliver Cromwell, and Lord Alfred Tennyson just to name a few.

Established by the legislature of Massachusetts in 1636, Harvard University is a private university in the city of Cambridge, Massachusetts. It is named after John Harvard, its first benefactor. Originally a college that trained clergy, the curriculum and the students became more secular during the eighteenth century.

Not only is Harvard recognized as one of the oldest establishments for higher learning, it also is the first corporation formed in the United States. At present, the academic staff numbers 2,107; the administrative staff compose of 2,497 non-medical and 10,674 medical; their student total population currently is at 21,125.

Many of Harvard’s past graduates have included a handful of American presidents and political leaders: John Hancock, John Adams, John Quincy Adams, Theodore Roosevelt, Franklin Roosevelt, John F. Kennedy, and George W. Bush to name a few. In addition, many movie stars that graduated from Harvard: Jack Lemmon, Natalie Portman, Matt Damon, and Tommy Lee Jones among them.

Recognized as the 3rd oldest university in the United States, Yale University was established in New Haven, Connecticut in 1701. Yale is a private university. Like Harvard, Yale has its roots in training clergymen along with political leaders. It was originally named Collegiate School, in 1718; a British East India Company governor named Elihu Yale made a substantial contribution to the school, resulting the school being named after Elihu.

Yale is recognized to having the second biggest academic library in the world, and having produced 49 Nobel Laureates. There are 11,593 students enrolled split between post-graduate and under-graduate studies; the university is supported by an academic staff of 3,619 people.

Famous Yale alumni include: former presidents William Howard Taft, Gerald Ford, George H.W. Bush, William J. Clinton, and George W. Bush; Supreme Court Justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas; Walter Camp – father of American football; Nathan Hale, Paul Newman, Meryl Streep, and Noah Webster to name a few.

Known as “public research university”, University College London is in London, England. This public university was first established in 1826. Unlike other universities whose origin was to provide instruction for the clergy, UCL was formed to provide education to the secular population regardless of their religious affiliation. They are also recognized as the pioneer in admitting women on equal terms with the men.

The University College London has, at this time, eight faculties that include: Arts and Humanities, Biomedical Sciences, Engineering Services, Laws, Mathematical and Physical Sciences to name a few.

Members of the illustrious graduates of UCL are: Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (India), Chaim Herzog (Israel), Alexander Graham Bell, and Colin Chapman (founder of Lotus cars).

MIT was borne out the need to meet the growing industrialization in the United States in 1861. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology was founded by William Barton Rogers, and is located in located along the bank of the Charles River in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

MIT sits on a 168 acre campus that opened in 1916. The disciplines MIT offers goes beyond the physical sciences and engineering, they have since expanded into areas of biology, political science, economics, management, and linguistics.

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology is a private institution that employs 1,009 people for their academic staff. The enrollment as of the 2009-2010 school year is at 10,384.

Recognized as the oldest University in English-speaking circles, the University of Oxford, often known as simply Oxford, is located in the city of Oxford, England. There is no exact date when this institute of learning was found, but it is believed to date back to the 11th century.

Admission by undergads into Oxford is managed individual colleges working together to ensure that the best students are able to study at Oxford. There are many who apply to both Oxford and Cambridge at any given time, however, a student cannot apply to both in the same year. At the time of this writing, there are 20,330 students enrolled in Oxford; recognized as a public university; it’s motto is Dominus Illuminatio Mea (latin), “The Lord is my Light.”

“Scientia imperii decus et tutamen” Latin, “Knowledge is the adornment and protection of the Empire” You know the thrust of a college or University by their motto. This public research institute is formally known as the Imperial College of London is also known as the Imperial College of Science, Technology, and medicine. Based in London, England, UCL specializes in the fields of business, medicine, engineering, and science.

This public university was established in 1907 with its main campus in South Kensington in central London. This college is one of the most selective universities in England. To apply at Imperial, application must done through the UCAS system (Universities & Colleges Admissions Service). As of the 2008-2009 school year, there were 13,000 students enrolled with 158 countries represented.

Established in 1890 by the American Baptist Education Society through the help of John D. Rockefeller, the University of Chicago is a private institution of learning. The university of Chicago boasts of having produced 85 Nobel prize laureates and 46 Rhodes scholars.

Located 7 miles south of downtown, UC is on 211 acres that spread to the areas of Hyde Park and Woodlawn. Their motto, “Let knowledge grow from more to more; and so be human life enriched”, have bled through the students as it esteems itself as “one of the greatest intellectual communities.” There are 10,300+ post graduates and 5,134 under graduates enrolled at any given one time.

Found on the foothills of Pasadena, California is a private research university known as CalTech, formally,the California Institute of Technology. The university has 6 divisions in academics but as the name suggest, the specialty is in engineering and the sciences. Not too far from downtown Los Angeles, CalTech’s property and main campus sits on 124 acres at the foot La Canada.

Originally found in 1891 as a prep and vocational school, Caltech was admitted to the association of American universities in 1934. Caltech also manages NASA’s Jet Propulsion Lab on campus. Enrollment at any given time is at 2130.

Originally founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, at the time was known as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is a member of the Ivy League. Undergraduate and graduate programs offered include humanities, engineering, natural sciences, and social sciences. There are 2500 graduate students and 5000 undergraduate students being instructed by 1100 faculty members.

Four United States presidents have come out of Princeton University, James Madison, Woodrow Wilson, Grover Cleveland, and John F. Kennedy. This private university was the fourth institution of higher education in the United States to hold classes. Their motto reads, “Dei Sub numine viget”, (Under God she flourishes). Princeton University continues to have ties with the Institute for Advanced Study and the Princeton Theological Seminary.