The Top 10 Universities around the World [infographic]

Move over Cambridge; out of the way Harvard; Yale - you’re down to seventh - tech schools are on the up and MIT is top of the pile for the first time.

In this informative and traditionally themed infographic, London-based infographic designers infogr8 dissect the QS World University Rankings 2012. The rankings are decided on classifications including size, focus and research intensity, and this data visualization looks at the top 10 in the list of 700 worldwide institutions, the rise of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and where around the world you can find the top 100 on the list. 

In today’s ever-advancing technological world, the likes of MIT, Imperial College London and Caltech (California Institute of Technology) – the so-called ‘tech-schools’ – are on the up - now making up almost a third of the top 10. MIT has overtaken tech-rivals Caltech and Imperial in the last couple of years, having been behind them both in the list in 2008.

The University of Cambridge – top of the tree last year – drops down to second place overall, with Harvard completing the top three. With last year’s positions also mentioned, we can see that UCL (University College London) and Yale are two of the bigger movers in the top 10, switching fourth and seventh places between them. 

The different fees charged by the universities are also investigated. From the top 10, eighth placed University of Chicago tops the totals with their average fees reaching up to $44,000 per year, the American fees seemingly dwarfing the amounts paid in the UK.

The infographic also shows the placement around the world of the top 100 universities in the list. Unsurprisingly, the USA has the most – 31 institutions putting them ahead of second-placed United Kingdom, with 18, and third-placed Australia with 7. The top 100 spans universities from a total of 20 countries around the globe, with Ireland, Singapore and Taiwan amongst those featured.