The Most Influential Schools in the World
Find the most influential colleges and universities in the world in nearly 25 academic disciplines
Find brilliant thinkers for your research papers and bibliographies. Using our proprietary AI program, we have ranked everyone in Wikipedia, Wikidata, Schematic Scholar, and CrossRef based on the number of citations, publications, and academically relevant web presence. This is how we find the most influential people in the world.
We then gather all the faculty and alumni associated with a college or university and attribute the people’s influence to their schools. Hence, the most influential schools are those that employ and graduate the most influential faculty and alumni.
Students and parents now have the easiest and fastest way to find colleges and universities with histories of impacting the world through their scholarship. If you ever wanted to find schools that have the most influence in engineering or in literature, you now can!
Use the power of AI for your research!
If you are searching for your ideal college , our Build Your Own College Rankings tool has more options to help you find the right school for your degree. Methodology: How and Why We Rank by Influence …
List of the most influential schools in Engineering,
The University of Tripoli , is the largest university in Libya and is located in the capital Tripoli. It was founded in 1957 as a branch of University of Libya before it was divided in 1973 to become what is now known as the University of Tripoli.
The University of Lausanne in Lausanne, Switzerland was founded in 1537 as a school of Protestant theology, before being made a university in 1890. The university is the second oldest in Switzerland, and one of the oldest universities in the world to be in continuous operation. As of fall 2017, about 15,000 students and 3,300 employees studied and worked at the university. Approximately 1,500 international students attend the university , which has a wide curriculum including exchange programs with other universities.
Yıldız Technical University is a prominent technical university dedicated to engineering and natural sciences, as well as social sciences recently, and is one of the oldest educational institutions in Istanbul, Turkey. The central campus lies within the Beşiktaş district and the new Davutpaşa campus lies within the Esenler district. The university is composed of ten faculties, three vocational schools, and two institutions.
The University at Buffalo (UB), officially the State University of New York at Buffalo, was founded in 1846 as a private medical college, with the future president Millard Fillmore as its first chancellor. It joined the SUNY system in 1962. By our measure of academic influence, it ranks #97 in the United States and #281 in the world. It admitted 74.2% of applicants for fall 2024; admitted students had a median SAT score of 1295 and a median ACT score of 29. It is the largest public university in New York, with about 31,500 students, 13 colleges, and three campuses, two in Buffalo and one in suburban Amherst.
Tunghai University is the oldest private university in Taiwan, established in 1955. It was founded by the United Board for Christian Higher Education in Asia . It is located in Xitun District, Taichung, Taiwan. According to Times Higher Educations Impact Rankings 2020, the university is rated as the most impactful private university in Taiwan and third in the country.
The University of Colorado Boulder is a public research university in Boulder, Colorado, United States. Founded in 1876, five months before Colorado became a state, it is the flagship university of the University of Colorado system. CU Boulder is a member of the Association of American Universities and is classified among R1: Doctoral Universities – Very high research activity.
The University of Colorado was founded in 1876 in the town of Boulder. The new university—now known as the University of Colorado Boulder (UCB)—was one of three institutions of higher learning founded by the territorial legislature in 1876, just months before Colorado achieved statehood. The other two schools were the Colorado Agricultural College in Ft. Collins and the Colorado School of Mines in Golden. While the University of Colorado Boulder (UCB) remains the flagship campus of the overall University of Colorado system, today there are two other main campuses, in Colorado Springs and in Denver.
The New York University Tandon School of Engineering is the engineering and applied sciences school of New York University. Tandon is the second oldest private engineering and technology school in the United States.
Northwestern Polytechnical University is a national public science and engineering university located in Xi'an, China. The university is affiliated with the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology. It is part of Project 985, Project 211, and the Double First Class University Plan.
Newcastle University is a public research university based in Newcastle upon Tyne, North East England. It has overseas campuses in Singapore and Malaysia. The university is a red brick university and a member of the Russell Group, an association of research-intensive UK universities.
The University of New Mexico (UNM), founded in 1889, has its flagship campus in Albuquerque and branch campuses in Gallup, Los Alamos, Rio Rancho, Taos, and Los Lunas. By our measure of academic influence, it ranks #107 in the United States and #323 in the world. It admitted 95.2% of applicants for fall 2024; admitted students had a median SAT score of 1030 and a median ACT score of 22. Its 12 colleges and schools offer 215 degree and certificate programs, and it is especially known for the health sciences and business. UNM’s influence is led by anthropology, where it ranks in the US top 40. I...
Novosibirsk State University is a public research university located in Novosibirsk, Russia. The university was founded in 1958, on the principles of integration of education and science, early involvement of students with research activities and the engagement of leading scientists in its teaching programmes.
The National Taiwan University of Science and Technology abbreviated as NTUST or TaiwanTech , is a public vocational university located in Taipei, Taiwan. TaiwanTech was established in 1974 as the National Taiwan Institute of Technology , as the first and the leading higher education institution of its kind within Taiwan's technical and vocational education system.NTUST is affiliated with National Taiwan Normal University and National Taiwan University as part of the National Taiwan University System.
Wayne State University is a public research university in Detroit, Michigan. It is Michigan's third-largest university. Founded in 1868, Wayne State consists of 13 schools and colleges offering approximately 350 programs to nearly 24,000 graduate and undergraduate students. Wayne State University, along with the University of Michigan and Michigan State University, compose the University Research Corridor of Michigan. Wayne State is classified among "R1: Doctoral Universities – Very high research activity".
Stockholm University is a public research university in Stockholm, Sweden, founded as a college in 1878, with university status since 1960. With over 33,000 students at four different faculties: law, humanities, social sciences, and natural sciences, it is one of the largest universities in Scandinavia.
Yokohama National University, abbreviated to Yokohama Kokudai, Yokokoku or YNU, is a national university located in Yokohama, Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan. Founded in 1876, it became a national university in 1949, and currently comprises five graduate schools and four undergraduate faculties.
Xi'an Jiaotong University is a public university located in Xi'an, Shaanxi, China. It is affiliated with the Ministry of Education of China. The university is part of Project 985, Project 211, and the Double First Class University Plan.
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Université Laval
is a French language public research university in Quebec City, Quebec, Canada. The university was founded by François de Montmorency-Laval as Séminaire de Québec in 1663, making it the oldest institution of higher education in Canada and the first North American institution to offer higher education in French. The university, which was founded in Old Québec, moved to a new campus in the 1950s in the suburban borough of Sainte-Foy–Sillery–Cap-Rouge. It is ranked among the top 10 Canadian universities in research funding and holds four Canada Excellence Research Chairs.
The University of Trento is an Italian university located in Trento and nearby Rovereto. It has been able to achieve considerable results in didactics, research, and international relations according to CENSIS and the Italian Ministry of Education.
Kaunas University of Technology is a public research university located in Kaunas, Lithuania. Established in 1922, KTU has been one of Lithuania's top science education centers. According to rankings conducted in 2021, KTU was the second-best university in Lithuania. The primary language spoken in courses is Lithuanian, although there are courses that are taught jointly in Lithuanian and English or solely in English.
The University of Malaya is a public research university located in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. It is the oldest and highest ranking Malaysian institution of higher education, and was the only university in newly independent Malaya. The university has graduated five prime ministers of Malaysia, and other political, business, and cultural figures of national prominence.
Northeastern University is a private research university with its main campus in Boston, Massachusetts. Established in 1898, it was founded by the Boston Young Men's Christian Association as an all-male institute before being incorporated as Northeastern College in 1916, gaining university status in 1922. With more than 36,000 students, Northeastern is one of the largest universities in Massachusetts by enrollment.
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RMIT University
RMIT University, officially the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, is a public research university in Melbourne, Australia. Founded in 1887 by Francis Ormond, RMIT began as a night school offering classes in art, science and technology in response to the industrial revolution in Australia. It was a private college for more than a hundred years before merging with the Phillip Institute of Technology to become a public university in 1992. It has an enrolment of around 95,000 higher and vocational education students, making it the largest dual-sector education institution in Australia. With...
California State Polytechnic University, Pomona , is a public polytechnic university and Hispanic-serving institution partially in Pomona, California. It has the largest student body of the three polytechnic universities in the California State University system.
The University of Jordan , often abbreviated UJ, is a public university located in Amman, Jordan. It was founded in 1962 by royal decree, and it is the largest and oldest institution of higher education in Jordan. It is located in the capital Amman in the Jubaiha area of the University District. It is composed of 20 faculties, and it contains over 95 departments. The university's stated main strategy and rule is to be global and productive in all its educational fields.
King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals , before 1986 as the University of Petroleum and Minerals, is a public research university in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia. Established in 1963 by King Saud bin Abdulalziz as the College of Petroleum and Minerals, it is ranked among the most prestigious academic institutions in Saudi Arabia and its science, engineering, business, and management programs are highly regarded in the country as well as in the member states of the Gulf Cooperation Council.
The Frankfurt University of Applied Sciences is a public University of Applied Sciences in Frankfurt am Main, Germany. The Frankfurt University of Applied Sciences provides about 38 study programmes in architecture and civil engineering, business and business law, informatics and engineering, social work and health. It has an international student body, with about 12,000 students coming from more than 100 countries. About 250 professors and over a 1000 other employees work at the Frankfurt University of Applied Sciences. It has four faculties: Architecture and civil engineering; Informatics a...
The University of Alberta is a public research university founded in 1908—just three years after the Province of Alberta officially entered the Dominion of Canada. In the lead-up to the university’s founding, there was a heated debate over its location, with one faction favoring Calgary (Alberta’s largest city) and another faction in favor of Edmonton (the provincial capital). Although the final decision favored Edmonton, the lack of a university in the province’s largest city continued to be felt. In 1944, the University of Alberta opened a branch campus in Calgary. In 1966, the Calgary campu...
The University of Innsbruck is a public research university in Innsbruck, the capital of the Austrian federal state of Tyrol, founded on October 15, 1669. It is the largest education facility in the Austrian Bundesland of Tirol, and the third largest in Austria behind Vienna University and the University of Graz. Significant contributions have been made in many branches, most of all in the physics department. Further, regarding the number of Web of Science-listed publications, it occupies the third rank worldwide in the area of mountain research.
Aarhus University is a public research university with its main campus located in Aarhus, Denmark. It is the second largest and second oldest university in Denmark. The university is part of the Coimbra Group, the Guild, and Utrecht Network of European universities and is a member of the European University Association.
Tarbiat Modares University is a graduate university with its main campus in Tehran, Iran. It was founded in 1982 to train university professors and is among the top universities in Iran. Admission is through national-level university exams, and in most programs, is limited to top performers.
The Isfahan University of Technology is a leading public university in Iran, situated near the city of Isfahan. The university comprises 14 faculties and departments, serving approximately 11,000 students and employing 600 academic staff members. IUT offers undergraduate, graduate, and doctoral programs across four main disciplines: engineering, basic sciences, agriculture, and natural resources. Notably, IUT was the first Iranian university to gain membership in CERN.
MIT OpenCourseWare is an initiative of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to publish all of the educational materials from its undergraduate- and graduate-level courses online, freely and openly available to anyone, anywhere. The project was announced on April 4, 2001, and uses Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike license. The program was originally funded by the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, and MIT. MIT OpenCourseWare is supported by MIT, corporate underwriting, major gifts, and donations from site visitors. The initiative in...
The Julius Maximilian University of Würzburg is a public research university in Würzburg, Germany. It is one of the oldest institutions of higher learning in Germany, having been founded in 1402. The university initially had a brief run and was closed in 1415. It was reopened in 1582 on the initiative of Julius Echter von Mespelbrunn. Today, the university is named for Julius Echter von Mespelbrunn and Maximilian Joseph.
The National University of Engineering is a public engineering and science university located in the Rímac District of Lima, Peru. It's widely considered as one of Peru's most prestigious educational institutions.
The Victoria University of Manchester, usually referred to as simply the University of Manchester, was a university in Manchester, England. It was founded in 1851 as Owens College. In 1880, the college joined the federal Victoria University. After the demerger of the Victoria University, it gained an independent university charter in 1904 as the Victoria University of Manchester.
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Jilin University
Jilin University is a national public university located in Changchun, Jilin, China. It is affiliated with the Ministry of Education of China. The university is part of the Double First Class University Plan, Project 985, and Project 211.
King Mongkut's Institute of Technology Ladkrabang is a research and educational institution in Thailand. It is situated in Lat Krabang District, Bangkok approximately 30 km east of the city center. The university consists of nine faculties: engineering, architecture, science, industrial education and technology, agricultural technology, information technology, food industry, liberal arts, and medicine.
Durham University is a public, research university established by an act of Parliament in 1832. It received its royal charter five years later, in 1837. Durham was the first university to be founded in England proper (as opposed to Scotland) in modern times (since Oxford and Cambridge during the Middle Ages). Its original remit was to prepare young men for ordination into the Church of England. The oldest part of the university is University College, which after 1837 was housed in historic Durham Castle. For this reason, University College is colloquially known as “the Castle.” At first, students living in the Castle were expected to bring along their personal servants to cook for them.
Bocconi University is a private university in Milan, Italy. Bocconi provides education in the fields of economics, finance, law, management, political science, public administration and computer science. SDA Bocconi, the university's graduate business school, offers MBA, Executive MBA, and DBA programs.
The University of Illinois Chicago (UIC) grew from 19th-century medical, pharmacy, and dental schools on Chicago’s Near West Side and from a University of Illinois division opened on Navy Pier in 1946 for World War II veterans. It took its present form in 1982, when the medical center merged with the University of Illinois at Chicago Circle. By our measure of academic influence, it ranks #137 in the United States and #447 in the world. It admitted 77.4% of applicants for fall 2024; admitted students had a median SAT score of 1240 and a median ACT score of 28. Its 16 colleges offer 86 bachelor’s degrees, 111 master’s degrees, and 66 doctorates.
McMaster University is a public research university in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. The main McMaster campus is on of land near the residential neighbourhoods of Ainslie Wood and Westdale, adjacent to the Royal Botanical Gardens. It operates six academic faculties: the DeGroote School of Business, Engineering, Health Sciences, Humanities, Social Science, and Science. It is a member of the U15, a group of research-intensive universities in Canada.
The University of Twente is a public technical university located in Enschede, Netherlands. The university has been placed in the top 170 universities in the world by multiple central ranking tables. In addition, the UT was ranked the best technical university in The Netherlands by Keuzegids Universiteiten, the most significant national university ranking. The UT collaborates with Delft University of Technology, Eindhoven University of Technology and the Wageningen University and Research Centre under the umbrella of 4TU and is also a partner in the European Consortium of Innovative Universit...
Clemson University is a public land-grant research university in Clemson, South Carolina. Founded in 1889, Clemson is the second-largest university by enrollment in South Carolina. For the fall 2019 semester, the university enrolled a total of 20,195 undergraduate students and 5,627 graduate students, and the student/faculty ratio was 18:1. Clemson's campus is in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains. The campus now borders Lake Hartwell, which was formed by the dam completed in 1962. The university manages the nearby Clemson Experimental Forest that is used for research, education, and...
The University of Graz is a public research university located in Graz, Austria. It is the largest and oldest university in Styria, as well as the second-largest and second-oldest university in Austria.
The Gdańsk University of Technology is a technical university in the Wrzeszcz borough of Gdańsk, and one of the oldest universities in Poland. It has eight faculties and with 41 fields of study and more than 18 thousand undergraduate, as well as about 626 doctoral students. It employs 2768 people, including 1313 academic teachers.
The University of Duisburg-Essen is a public research university in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. In the 2019 Times Higher Education World University Rankings, the university was awarded 194th place in the world. It was originally founded in 1654 and re-established on 1 January 2003, as a merger of the Gerhard Mercator University of Duisburg and the university of Essen. It is based in both the cities of Duisburg and Essen, and a part of University Alliance Metropolis Ruhr.
The Eindhoven University of Technology , abbr. TU/e, is a public technical university in the Netherlands, situated at Eindhoven. In 2020–21, around 14,000 students were enrolled in its BSc and MSc programs and around 1350 students were enrolled in its PhD and PDEng programs. In 2021, the TU/e employed around 3900 people.
, formerly "Science University of Tokyo" or TUS, informally or simply is a private research university located in Shinjuku, Tokyo, Japan. History Tokyo University of Science was founded in 1881 as The Tokyo Academy of Physics by 21 graduates of the Department of Physics in the Faculty of Science, University of Tokyo . In 1883, it was renamed the Tokyo College of Science, and in 1949, it attained university status and became the Tokyo University of Science. The leading character appearing in Japanese novelist Soseki Natsume's novel Botchan graduated from Tokyo University of Science.
Instituto Tecnológico y de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey , also known as Tecnológico de Monterrey or just Tec, is a private research university based in Monterrey, Mexico, which has grown to include 35 campuses throughout the country. One of only 45 universities in the world to be ranked with 5 QS Stars, it is widely recognized as one of the most prestigious universities in Latin America.
