Colleges & Universities

Harvard tops US News & World Report's list of best global universities

James Eng
WATCH LIVE

America is apparently a very good place to get a college education, judging by U.S. News & World Report's list of "Best Global Universities" for 2016.

U.S. institutions, led by Harvard University at No. 1, dominated the list, taking eight of the top 10 spots.

The Harry Elkins Widener Memorial Library on the campus of Harvard University in Cambridge, Mass.
Kelvin Ma | Bloomberg | Getty Images

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the University of California-Berkeley and Stanford University were ranked Nos. 2, 3 and 4, respectively. They were followed by two U.K. universities, Oxford and Cambridge, at Nos. 5 and 6. Rounding out the Top 10 were California Institute of Technology, UCLA, Columbia University and the University of Chicago.

A total of 750 schools in 57 countries made the Best Global Universities list. They were ranked based on 12 indicators that measure their academic research performance and their global and regional reputations. You can read more about the methodology here.

Harvard University campus in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
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"We have designed the rankings to be a starting point to help students and their families identify institutions that speak to their specific needs, whether they are planning on staying close to home or traveling abroad for college — or whether they are seeking a specific academic degree," Robert Morse, chief data strategist at U.S. News, said in a press release.

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U.S. News is better known for its annual rankings of national universities and liberal arts colleges. This is its second global universities list.

While Harvard topped the global list, it came in at No. 2 (behind Princeton) on the publication's annual list of top American universities. That's because U.S. News uses different indicators for each ranking.