The 100 most international universities in the world 2014

January 24, 2014

Most major research universities view their international standing as a vital part of their strategic plans.

With powerful global networks universities can find the best academic talent, attract the brightest students and produce collaborative, innovative research that exploits the resources of multiple institutions and tackles matters of global concern.

Times Higher Education has compiled a list of the top 100 most international universities using the “international outlook” indicator from the Times Higher Education World University Rankings. This examines a university’s international student numbers, its percentage of international staff and the proportion of its research papers published with a co-author from at least one other country. The list is drawn from the world’s top 400 of the World University Rankings 2013-2014.

100 - 77

RankInstitutionInternational outlook
=99National University of Ireland, Galway 69.5
=99University of Tasmania 69.9
98University of Toronto70.0
97University of Alberta70.1
96National University of Ireland, Maynooth 70.3
=94University of Oslo 70.3
=94University of Nottingham 70.3
93The University of Newcastle 70.5
=91Cardiff University 70.6
=91University of Reading 70.6
90Aalborg University 70.8
89Keele University 71.2
88University of Sheffield 71.6
=86King Saud University72.2
=86University of Birmingham 72.2
85University of East Anglia 72.3
84Vienna University of Technology 72.4
83Karolinska Institute 73.2
82University of Portsmouth73.3
81Deakin University 73.4
80University of York 73.6
79University of Glasgow 73.7
78Delft University of Technology 74.2
77King Abdulaziz University74.3

 

75 - 51

RankInstitutionInternational outlook
=75University of Liverpool 75.0
=75University of Bristol 75.0
74University of Montreal 75.6
73University of Copenhagen 76.0
72Newcastle University 76.3
71University of Exeter 76.7
70Durham University 76.8
69The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology 77.0
68University of Cape Town 77.2
=66University of Bath 77.4
=66Technical University of Denmark 77.4
65Université Libre de Bruxelles 77.5
64McGill University 77.8
=62University of Adelaide 78.2
=62Monash University 78.3
=60Wageningen University and Research Center 78.3
=60University of Bern 78.5
59University of Southampton 79.1
58University College Dublin 79.6
57The University of Queensland Australia 79.7
56University of South Australia 80.0
55University of Sussex 80.1
54The University of Hong Kong 80.3
53University of Manchester 80.9
52University of Hertfordshire 81.1
51Lancaster University 81.2

 

50 - 26

RankInstitutionInternational outlook
50University of Melbourne 81.3
49University of Edinburgh 81.5
48University of Leicester 81.6
47London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE)81.7
46Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)82.0
=44University of Waikato 82.4
=44University of Essex 82.4
=42Victoria University of Wellington 82.9
=42University of Warwick 82.9
=39University of Surrey 83.5
=39Birkbeck, University of London 83.5
=39The University of New South Wales 83.5
38University of Aberdeen 83.6
37University of Wollongong 83.9
36University of British Columbia 84.2
=34University of Fribourg84.5
=34Université de Lausanne 84.5
=32University of Otago 84.8
=32The University of Sydney 84.8
31University of Zürich85.5
30Trinity College Dublin 85.9
29King’s College London 86.0
28École Polytechnique 86.1
KTH Royal Institute of Technology 86.2
26Murdoch University86.4

 

25. University of Cambridge

THE World University Rankings 2013-2014 position: 7
International outlook: 86.7

Cambridge alumni loom large in the making of the modern world: Newton on laws and motion; Rutherford splitting the atom; Darwin on evolution; Turing’s prototypical computer; Crick and Watson with DNA.

Founded in 1209 by Oxford scholars who quit after a dispute with the local citizenry, Cambridge now employs more than 8,500 staff and has over 18,300 students.

24. University of Technology, Sydney

University of Technology, Sydney

THE World University Rankings 2013-2014 position: 301-350
International outlook score: 87.3

UTS is a dynamic and innovative university in central Sydney.

One of Australia’s leading universities of technology, UTS has a distinct model of learning, strong research performance and a leading reputation for engagement with industry and the professions.

It has a culturally diverse campus life and vibrant international exchange study and research programs that prepare graduates for the workplaces of today and the future.

23. Queen’s University Belfast

Queen's University Belfast

THE World University Rankings 2013-2014 position: 251-5
International outlook score: 87.5

Founded by Queen Victoria in 1845, just 90 students constituted the institution’s first intake four years later.

Queen’s, which gained its current name in 1908, has more than 17,000 and an academic staff operating from three faculties: arts, humanities and social sciences; medical, health and life sciences; and engineering and physical sciences.

22. Heriot-Watt University

Heriot Watt main reception

THE World University Rankings 2013-2014 position: 301-350
International outlook score: 87.8

Founded in 1821, Heriot-Watt had the world’s first Mechanics Institute.

The university delivers degree programmes to 11,800 students in 150 countries around the world, has a campus in Dubai, a new one opening in Malaysia, and boasts the largest international student cohort in Scotland.

=19. University of Canterbury

THE World University Rankings 2013-2014 position: 301-350
International outlook score: 88

This South Island institution, dating from 1873, is New Zealand’s second-oldest university.

Canterbury offers degrees in subjects including speech and language therapy, social work and forestry to around 16,000 students, including about 1,200 international students from more than 80 countries.

=19. University of Auckland

THE World University Rankings 2013-2014 position: 164
International outlook score: 88

Economist William Phillips, who taught here from 1969 to 1975, observed a historical inverse relationship between countries’ unemployment and inflation rates, a phenomenon now known as the Phillips Curve.

Set up in 1883, the university has a diverse community of more than 5,000 international students from more than 90 different countries

Ex-prime ministers David Lange and Helen Clark studied here.

=19. Queen Mary, University of London

Queen Mary, University of London

THE World University Rankings 2013-2014 position: 114
International outlook score: 88

Joining the University of London as a constituent college in 1915, Queen Mary has 19th-century roots in the East End’s People’s Palace movement. But after merging with Barts and the London medical schools, the combined institution can now look back to 12th-century origins.

18. The University of Western Australia

THE World University Rankings 2013-2014 position: 168
International outlook score: 88.6

John Winthrop Hackett, a newspaper editor and owner, founded the university in 1911. It was the first free higher education institution in the British Empire, actively promoting equal access to tertiary education for the masses.

17. University of St Andrews

THE World University Rankings 2013-2014 position: 117
International outlook score: 88.8

Rectors at Scotland’s oldest, and the English-speaking world’s third-oldest, university, dating from 1413, have included John Stuart Mill and John Cleese.

Academic dress is commonly worn by many of its 8,600-plus students and approximately 800-strong faculty.

St Andrews has strong American links, with three Declaration of Independence signatories attending it or receiving its degrees - James Wilson, Benjamin Franklin and John Witherspoon.

=15. Brunel University

Brunel University

THE World University Rankings 2013-2014 position: 251-5
International outlook score: 89.1

Named after Victorian engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel, the institution was founded in 1928 as Acton Technical College.

It became a university in 1966 and is now served by around 1,100 academic, professional and research staff across eight schools.

=15. Maastricht University

THE World University Rankings 2013-2014 position: 98
International outlook score: 89.1

Maastricht University is a fully bilingual (Dutch & English) university. They offer a wide range of bachelor’s, master’s and PhD programmes with a strong international and European orientation, most of which are taught in English.

Almost half of the student population and a third of our academic staff is non-Dutch, making UM by far the most interNational University in the Netherlands, and indeed among the most international universities on the European continent.

14. University of Vienna

THE World University Rankings 2013-2014 position: 170
International outlook score: 89.5

The German-speaking world’s oldest university (established in 1365) made notable contributions to 20th-century medicine, producing five Nobel winners (in 1914, 19, 1930, 1936 and 1973).

Other laureates include Erwin Schrödinger (Physics, 1933) for pioneering quantum wave mechanics and Friedrich von Hayek (Economics, 1974).

=12. University College London

University College London

THE World University Rankings 2013-2014 position: 21
International outlook score: 90.2

Alumni of Britain’s first university to admit women on equal terms include Jonathan Ross, Jonathan Dimbleby, Robert Browning, Jomo Kenyatta and cricketer David Gower.

Students from 150 countries study at UCL, making up more than a third of the student body.

=12. University of Oxford

THE World University Rankings 2013-2014 position: 2
International outlook score: 90.2

Twenty-six British prime ministers, at least 30 other world leaders, 12 saints and 20 archbishops of Canterbury have been Oxonians.

Oxford virtually invented college life in the 13th century. The world’s third-oldest surviving university offers approximately 12,000 undergraduates a choice of 38 colleges and six permanent private-residence halls.

11. Nanyang Technological University

Nanyang Technological University

THE World University Rankings 2013-2014 position: 76
International outlook score: 91

A melting pot of international talents, NTU’s multidisciplinary learning environment is supported by top-notch faculty, led by NTU President Professor Bertil Andersson, a world-renowned biochemist, former Trustee of the Nobel Foundation and winner of the prestigious 2010 Wilhelm Exner Medal; and Provost, Professor Freddy Boey, a leading authority in materials science and engineering who invented the world’s smallest piezoelectric heart pump in 2003.

=9. Macquarie University

THE World University Rankings 2013-2014 position: 6-300
International outlook score: 91.1

Named after the 19th-century colonial governor and reformer Lachlan Macquarie, Sydney’s third university opened in 1964 on 310 acres of rolling bush 10 miles from the city centre.

=9. Universität Basel

Universitat Basel

THE World University Rankings 2013-2014 position: 74
International outlook score: 91.1

Switzerland’s oldest university is associated with, among many other notables, Erasmus, Paracelsus, Nietzsche and Jung.

=7. University of Innsbruck

THE World University Rankings 2013-2014 position: 201-225
International outlook score: 91.4

A university without a main campus, Innsbruck is spread across the Alpine-gateway city.

Before 2005, it had just six faculties, but is much more extensive today: it now employs 4,500 staff and faculty members, and has more than ,500 students in 16 faculties.

A fully formed university since 1669, its parent institution, the Innsbruck Academic Gymnasium, was financed by Tyrolean salt-mine revenues.

=7. Australian National University

THE World University Rankings 2013-2014 position: 48
International outlook score: 91.4

Old Canberra House dates from 1913 and is the oldest building on ANU’s 145-acre greenfield campus, established by an Act of the Federal Parliament in 1946 to house the university in the heart of Australia’s “bush capital”.

6. Imperial College London

THE World University Rankings 2013-2014 position: 10
International outlook score: 91.8

With an emphasis on research, Imperial has four faculties - medicine, natural science, engineering and business.

Founded in 1907 as a constituent college of the University of London, it became independent in 2007.

Its main campus in London’s museum quarter and seven others house students from 126 countries.

5. Royal Holloway, University of London

THE World University Rankings 2013-2014 position: 102
International outlook score: 92.6

Two Victorian pioneers of women’s higher learning - Elizabeth Jesser Reid and Thomas Holloway - lie behind Royal Holloway, a constituent college of the University of London formed by the merger of Bedford College and the original Royal Holloway College.

4. National University of Singapore

THE World University Rankings 2013-2014 position: 26
International outlook score: 94.3

A leading global university centred in Asia, the National University of Singapore (NUS) is Singapore’s flagship university, which offers a global approach to education and research with a focus on Asian perspectives and expertise.

=2. University of Geneva

THE World University Rankings 2013-2014 position: 124
International outlook score: 96.7

One of Geneva’s eight faculties - Protestant theology - maintains the link with the university’s foundation as a seminary by John Calvin in 1559.

In 1873, the institution converted to secularism, and in the following century it attracted such intellects as Jean Piaget, George Steiner, Chaim Weizmann and Kofi Annan.

=2. Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zürich

Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich

THE World University Rankings 2013-2014 position: 14
International outlook score: 96.7

You don’t have to be Albert Einstein to study here - every Swiss citizen who has sat the Matura (matriculation) is eligible - but it doesn’t hurt.

ETH Zurich (heir to the Federal Polytechnic Institute, set up in 1855) now teaches around 18,000 students from more than 100 different countries.

Einstein received his diploma here in 1901.

1. École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne

Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne

THE World University Rankings 2013-2014 position: 37
International outlook score: 98.2

Education, research and technology transfer are core to EPFL, which boasts more than 250 on-campus laboratories situated in 136 acres on the shores of Lake Geneva.

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