U.S. News Media Group Releases 2010 Ranking of World's Best Universities

WASHINGTON, Sept. 21 /PRNewswire/ -- U.S. News Media Group, one of the nation's leading sources of service journalism and news, today released the third annual edition of the World's Best Universities rankings. The 2010 World's Best rankings, which include colleges and universities across the globe, are available online at www.usnews.com/worldsbest.

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World's Best Universities rankings, updated annually by U.S. News, are based on the 2010 QS World University Rankings®, developed by QS Quacquarelli Symonds, one of the world's leading resources for careers and education.  Following a different methodology and ranking data than the well-known U.S. News Best Colleges rankings, the World's Best Universities rates universities on factors such as the proportion of international faculty and the proportion of international students.  

"There's a growing interest among prospective students to attend institutions abroad," said U.S. News Media Group Editor Brian Kelly.  "The World's Best Universities rankings help students compare and select the best schools worldwide. In addition, the rankings enable our readers to understand more fully how well American institutions perform when compared with other institutions of higher learning around the world."

"The world is rapidly changing," said Director of Data Research Bob Morse.  "More students and faculty are eager to explore the higher education options that exist outside their countries.  Universities worldwide are competing for the best and brightest students, the most highly recognized research faculty, and coveted research dollars.  And more universities are seeking world-class status to become players on the global academic stage."

Using an in-depth methodology, the World's Best Universities rankings is one of the most comprehensive of its kind, and includes the following rankings: Top 400 Universities Worldwide, Top 50 Asian Universities, Top 50 British and European Universities, Top 20 Canadian Universities, Top 20 Australian and New Zealand Universities and Top 10 Latin American Universities. The listing also includes the Top 100 global rankings in the fields of arts and humanities; engineering and IT; life sciences and biomedicine; natural and physical sciences; and social sciences.  

To determine the 2010 rankings, six distinct indicators of excellence were evaluated, including: Academic Peer Review, Employer Review, Student-to-Faculty Ratio, Proportion of International Faculty, Proportion of International Students, and Citations per Faculty Member.

For additional information on the 2010 ranking of the World's Best Universities, please visit www.usnews.com/worldsbest.  

About the U.S. News Media Group

The U.S. News Media Group is a multi-platform publisher of news analysis, research and rankings which includes the monthly U.S. News & World Report magazine, the digital-only U.S. News Weekly magazine, and the company's websites, www.usnews.com and www.rankingsandreviews.com. Focusing on Health, Money, Education, Politics & Policy, Autos, and Travel, the U.S. News Media Group has earned a reputation as the leading provider of service news and information that improves the quality of life of its readers. The U.S. News Media Group's signature franchises include its News You Can Use® brand of journalism and its "Best" series of consumer guides that include rankings of colleges, graduate schools, hospitals, health plans, and more.

About QS Quacquarelli Symonds

QS's mission is "to enable motivated people to fulfill their potential through educational achievement, international mobility and career development." Founded in 1990, today QS is the leading information and events company specialising in the higher education sector, worldwide. Through our exclusive events, publications, research and interactive web tools, we link undergraduate, graduate, MBA and executive communities around the world with recruiters and education providers. Our websites include: www.topuniversities.com, www.topgradschool.com,   www.topmba.com, and www.qs.com. The QS team is diverse, made up of over 180 individuals from 35 countries and includes internationally recognized experts in the higher and business education arena. QS operates globally from offices in London, Paris, Singapore, Stuttgart,  Beijing, Shanghai, Sydney, Washington DC, Boston, and Johannesburg.

SOURCE U.S. News Media Group