<p>I understand. Why does study abroad make a University world-class, versus just worldly? I understand why it’s a necessary criterion, but honestly, I don’t see why just using international prestige/academic quality as an indication of a world-class university is nonsensical. Or am I missing the definition of world-class as used in this thread?</p>
<p>^</p>
<p>Well to sorta explain…</p>
<p>I see a world class university as a university ranked higher/ more respected in other countries than it is in it’s own. While a international prestige university can more than likely be any university, say one that is prestigious in it’s country. Also see world class university tending ot attract international students, and open it’s students to the world. </p>
<p>( Didn’t really explain well, I guess def can vary)</p>
<p>St. John’s used to have a campus in Shanghai, China. It did not make St. John’s a world class U. But joint programs between Stanford (Yale also) with Peking University are more meaningful than to have a campus in China.</p>
<p>I think a “world-class” university is, quite simply, a university that’s known internationally. Usually that’s not through the quality of undergraduate education but more through research and scholarship at the level of the professors and researchers employed there. By that measure, I agree that all of the schools you listed (except probably Michigan State…) are world-class universities.</p>
<p>There is definitely some overlap, as some of the most prestigious universities are also the ones known most internationally and are the “world-class” universities – like most of the Ivy League, Stanford, MIT, a lot of large public universities like UCLA, Michigan, UIUC, Ohio State…Cambridge, Oxford, Tokyo University, Ecole Normale Superieure, University of Paris, the Sorbonne, Waseda University, Max Planck, University of Leipzig, University of Amsterdam, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Witwatersrand…just throwing some out there.</p>
<p>Put in Berkeley/Wisconsin and kindly remove Ohio State!</p>
<p>One of the challenges of Oxford and Cambridge is that they expect undergraduates to fend for themselves a lot of the time. I guess there is a general idea, however fallacious, that everyone wants to be there, that everyone is motivated. Going back a fair way, two hours a week were spent in mandatory tutorials for arts students, the rest was up to the individual. I think it is still the same for arts students. </p>
<p>I was just talking to a respected Cambridge alumna who was saying that at Oxford, your social standing, your physical attractiveness, counted for quite a bit. That at Cambridge, it was all about your brains. She said Stephen Hawking would not have thrived at Oxford. I am just throwing this stuff into the mix. But I wonder if any of that chimes with anyone’s experieces of the ivy schools, or any others?</p>
<p>He he he. She said “fallacious.” He he he.</p>
<p>Generally, A world class university should be extremely strong in science/engineering /business. The liberal arts programs don’t matter too much. Most foreign students come to US because US has the best science/engineering/business schools. Beijing university may have the world’s best departments in chinese language, in chinese history, and in east Asian study. But that doesn’t qualify Beijing university to be a world class university, because its science and engineering departements are not world class.</p>
<p>Factor in the strenth of science, engineering, and business, I would consider the following schools as world class.</p>
<p>Tier 1: Harvard, Stanford, Berkeley, MIT, Cambridge</p>
<p>Tier 2: Princeton, Caltech, Oxford, Yale, Chicago, Columbia, Cornell.</p>
<p>Tier 3: Imperical college, London business school, Penn, Tokyo, Mosco State university, UCLA, UC-Sandiego, UCSF, Johns Hopkins, CMU, Wisconsin-Madison, UIUC, Michigan, University of Toronto, Duke.</p>
<p>^^^ It’s interesting that you would claim that… since Harvard doesn’t and Chicago don’t even have engineering.</p>
<p>From the African sub sahara perspective, the top 500 universities in the world are “world class”. </p>
<p>This isn’t from an American perspective. The list that Datalook provided is basically the USNews report plus the Times mixed in…</p>
<p>Hong Kong University is a world class university. There are hundreds of different universities out there that can be classified as world class…</p>
<p>The ones you’ve just listed at the *elite *of the world class. The top 5% of world class universities or basically the superstars of academia…</p>
<p>There are one billion starving people in the world (up 100 million from last year)… A US state university with 21st century facilities and modern classrooms is a luxury that few in Asia, Africa, Europe can possibly experience.</p>
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<p>Maybe Chicago doesn’t, but Harvard offers engineering. – [Harvard</a> School of Engineering and Applied Sciences](<a href=“http://www.seas.harvard.edu/]Harvard”>http://www.seas.harvard.edu/)</p>
<p>I would not call that engineering. It’s like saying Rose Hulman has liberal arts. Technically true, but irrelevant.</p>
<p>^ LoL… </p>
<p>You would not call that engineering, but Harvard would. In fact, they call it **Harvard School of Engineering<a href=“and%20Applied%20Sciences”>/b</a>. Some of the programs they offer includes the following: </p>
<p>Bioengineering
Computer Science
Electrical Engineering
Enviro. Sciences & Engineering
Mechanical Engineering</p>
<p>To be exact, only 3 universities in the whole world are super strong in all the fields of sciences, engineering, and business. They are Stanford, MIT, and Berkeley. Harvard will joing this group, perhaps in about one or two decades. The world class universities I listed above are all excellent in sciences.</p>
<p>About 10 years ago, Yale University has sought to improve its engineering department. The university invested over half a billion dollars to upgrade its engineering facilities, hire faculty and improve its curriculum. It was probably the biggest single effort that a university has invested to one single department. Unfortunately, its massive and costly effort didn’t yield the result that the university has expected, for Yale’s engineering now is basically the same engineering dept it was 10 years ago. Meaning, it didn’t reap any positive result despite the huge investment.</p>
<p>datalook, MIT, Stanford and Berkeley are the top 3 engineering schools in the world. But right below them are Caltech and Cambridge, in my personal opinion.</p>
<p>Cornell, Michigan, UIUC, Texas, Northwestern, GeorgiaTech, UCLA, Princeton, Duke and Hopkins also deserve mention.</p>
<p>What about being super strong in USNews’ top 5 categories:</p>
<p>Business, Law, Medicine, Education, Engineering</p>
<p>I’m not sure about Stanford law, but Stanford is ranked #2 for it’s School of Education and it’s totally pwns in Business, Medicine, Education, and Engineering…</p>
<p>Harvard’s School of Education is ranked #6 and pwns in Business, Law, Medicine… except Engineering lol.</p>
<p>^ The top 3 would be Sanford, Berkeley and Harvard</p>
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<p>So? Rose Hulman has a sizable liberal arts program and has programs of study in it, and guess what Rose Hulman is classified as? Specialty engineering school. Harvard has as much engineering as Rose Hulman has liberal arts, and if Rose Hulman’s liberal arts program is not “real” enough to drag it out of the engineering school category…</p>
<p>Like I said, Harvard’s engineering is irrelevant just like rose Hulman’s liberal arts. And that’s the point, Harvard’s engineering is virtually nonexistent.</p>
<p>UPenn and Columbia are tied for Engineering at 29th place or something.</p>
<p>For Business, Med, Law, Education, Engineering</p>
<p>UPenn and Columbia both pwn at Business, Med, and Law.</p>
<p>Columbia is ranked #2 tied with Stanford for Teacher’s College/School of Education. </p>
<p>Columbia in my opinion should be added on that list :)</p>
<p>Right now, Harvard’s engineering is clearly not at the level of Stanford, MIT, and Berkeley. But it is rising. Harvard has money and prestige. Besides, it is next to MIT. And Route 128 is the world’s 2nd best place in engineering practices (after Silicon Valley). I have my belief that when Harvard gets serious about engineering, its engineering school will be top-notched. </p>
<p>I would not compare Harvard to Yale, because Harvard has been a super power in sciences. Yale has a different culture. It has been putting more efforts in developing its law school, arts and social science programs, biological and medical science programs. Its physical science and engineering have been lagging behind for a long time. Also, there is never any significant engineering practices in New Heaven.</p>