Every summer, the world’s best universities clamber up the QS World University Rankings® 2018. From employer reputation to faculty student ratio, we factor in a good mix of different indicators to give you a clear picture of how the world’s best universities compare, but sometimes a picture can tell you more than any ranking ever could. Take a look at the best universities in the world this year.
1. Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Next to the lovely hot pink hydrangea is Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Killian Court, a marble-clad building erected in 1916 with beautiful friezes carved in large Roman letters overlooking the Boston river and skyline. These days, it’s mostly used to host ceremonies.
2. Stanford University
Pictured here is Stanford University’s student observatory, situated in the green, rolling hills west of Stanford’s main campus. It features several telescopes and is largely used to teach astrophysics. It’s also a great spot to take lovely scenic shots of the Californian countryside.
3. Harvard University
Harvard University’s football stadium is U-shaped and has a capacity of 30,323 seats. Since its construction in 1903, it’s hosted the 1984 Summer Olympics, as well as 660 football and lacrosse competitions, various political rallies and live music gigs.
4. California Institute of Technology
The Pasadena-based California Institute of Technology has a beautiful sunny campus situated approximately 11 miles from Downtown Los Angeles. It’s got lovely arched corridors, reddish brown tiles, domes and bell towers, and Spanish influences here and there. Pictured here is California Institute of Technology’s Los Angeles-era 70-seat Beckman Auditorium, where performing arts, screenings, and lectures often take place.
5. University of Cambridge
This photo of the May Ball, a black tie Cambridge-wide tradition celebrating the end of the academic year, was taken at St John’s College, a college of the university known for its famous alumni, including the Romantic poet William Wordsworth and the slavery abolitionist William Wilberforce.
6. The University of Oxford
Pictured here is the view from Oxford University’s stunning Bodleian, one of the oldest libraries in Europe. A beautiful dome of meandering mahogany staircases, it’s home to 330 oil paintings and inlaid wooden ceilings as well as over 12 million books and other items.
7. University College London
University College London’s quad (short for quadrangle) pictured here faces the UK capital’s Gower Street. It’s a short walk from Soho, King’s Cross, the British Museum, and the Senate House Library, a Brutalist tower built in 1937 that inspired the fictional Ministry of Truth described in George Orwell’s acclaimed novel 1984.
8. Imperial College London
Pictured here is Imperial’s South Kensington campus, a beautiful medley of architectural styles ranging from the Edwardian to the ultra-modern.
9. University of Chicago
The University of Chicago’s main campus based in downtown Chicago has a very collegiate Gothic architectural style modelled after the UK-based University of Oxford. With ivy creeping up its limestone facades, lovely traceried windows and spires, the resemblance is uncanny.
10. Swiss Federal Institute of Technology
The main building of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich was built in 1864 and inspired by neoclassical architecture.
