Top 15 US Universities with the Best International Reputation

Published on July 28, 2015 at 7:40 pm by David Nixon in Lists

What are the top US universities with the best international reputation? Every year, Times Higher Education evaluates schools across the globe and ranks them according to a series of indicators, from faculty and staff to research and international reputation. Apart from their traditional ranking of the best universities in the world, this research agency has also been issuing a reputation ranking, for the past 6 years. Based on their latest edition, we would like to present you with a countdown we have compiled of the top 15 US universities that have the best international reputation. We believe reputational rankings are as important as other forms of ranking. Most of the time you get hired not because of the actual quality of your education but because of the perceived quality of your education.

The experts at Times Higher Education compiled a special survey, destined for experienced and published scholars across the globe, who offered their opinion on the top universities in the world. In each of the questionnaires, scholars, each with a nearly two decade experience in the field as average, were asked to name a maximum of 15 schools they believed to be the best, according to their own personal experience. In addition to the surveys, Times Higher Education also made use of the indicators it used to compile its ranking of the best universities in the world in order to come up with a score for each of the universities. In order to ensure fairness, the survey was made available in ten different languages and scholars were chosen from areas across the globe. The survey, carried out in 2013, between the months of March and May, gathered over 10,000 responses from more than 130 countries across the globe.

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Out of the 100 universities included in the reputation ranking of Times Higher Education, nearly half originate in the US, 46 to be more exact. The runner-up, the United Kingdom, only makes 10 appearances on the countdown. Other countries present in the top 20 of the original ranking are Switzerland, Japan, and Canada. In total, 20 countries made it in the 100 spots on the Reputation Ranking.

Before we take a look at the countdown check out our list of the best engineering colleges in America.

NOTE: While the Times Higher Education ranking takes into account school across the globe, our countdown only focuses on US universities.

No. 15: NYU

NYU wasn’t among the top 15 US universities with the best international reputation in 2014. That’s why it enters to our rankings at #15.

2015 Overall score: 13.6

No. 14: University of Pennsylvania

2014 Overall Score: 12.8

2015 Overall Score: 11.2

University of Pennsylvania Dorm

No. 13: Cornell University