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
El Colegio de México, A.C. is a Mexican institute of higher education, specializing in teaching and research in social sciences and humanities. The college was founded in 1940 by the Mexican Federal Government, the Bank of Mexico , the National Autonomous University of Mexico , and the Fondo de Cultura Económica. In the late 1930s, following the end of the Spanish Civil War, Mexican president Lázaro Cardenas created the House of Spain in Mexico to host Spanish intellectuals in exile in Mexico; Mexico was the only country that in 1939 welcomed Spanish refugees. Under the direction of intellec...
Middlebury College is a private liberal arts college in Middlebury, Vermont. Founded in 1800 by Congregationalists, Middlebury was the first operating college or university in Vermont. The college currently enrolls 2,773 undergraduates from all 50 states and 74 countries and offers 45 majors in the arts and humanities as well as joint engineering programs. In addition to its undergraduate liberal arts program, the school also has graduate schools, the Middlebury College Language Schools, the Bread Loaf School of English, and the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey, as well as its C.V.
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.
Chapman University is a private research university in Orange, California. It encompasses eleven schools and colleges and is classified among "R2: Doctoral Universities – High research activity". While the school maintains affiliations with the Christian Church and the United Church of Christ, it is not a Christian college.
Denise Susan Walsh ranks among our Top Influential Political Scientists Today.
The Jewish Theological Seminary is a Conservative Jewish education organization in New York City, New York. It is one of the academic and spiritual centers of Conservative Judaism and a center for academic scholarship in Jewish studies. The Jewish Theological Seminary Library is one of the most significant collections of Judaica in the world.
When the Second Sino-Japanese War broke out between China and Japan in 1937, Peking University, Tsinghua University and Nankai University merged to form Changsha Temporary University in Changsha and later National Southwestern Associated University in Kunming and Mengzi, in Southwest China's Yunnan Province. After the war, the universities moved back and resumed their operation. What was left behind in Kunming became the National Kunming Normal University which later emerged as the Yunnan Normal University.
Sichuan University is a public university in Chengdu, Sichuan, China. The university is affiliated with and sponsored by the Ministry of Education. The university is part of Project 985, Project 211, and the Double First Class University Plan.
The University of Westminster is a public university based in London, United Kingdom. Founded in 1838 as the Royal Polytechnic Institution, it was the first polytechnic to open in London. The Polytechnic formally received a Royal charter in August 1839, and became the University of Westminster in 1992.
Tor Vergata University of Rome, also known as the University of Tor Vergata , is a public research university located in Rome, Italy. Located in the southeastern suburb of Rome, the university combines a liberal arts tradition with emphasis on career orientation in the field of Economics, Engineering, Mathematics and Physics, Natural Sciences, and Medicine.
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...
Southeast University is a public university located in Nanjing, Jiangsu, 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.
The University of Lagos, popularly known as UNILAG, is a public research university located in Lagos, Nigeria and was founded in 1962. UNILAG is one of the first generation universities in Nigeria and is ranked among the top universities in the world in major education publications. The university presently has three campuses in the mainland of Lagos. Whereas two of its campuses are located at Yaba , it's college of medicine is located at Idi-Araba, Surulere. Its main campus is largely surrounded by the Lagos lagoon and has 802 acres of land. The University of Lagos currently admits over 9,000...
The Academy of Fine Arts Vienna is a public art school in Vienna, Austria. History The Academy of Fine Arts Vienna was founded in 1688 as a private academy modelled on the Accademia di San Luca and the Parisien Académie de peinture et de sculpture by the court-painter Peter Strudel, who became the Praefectus Academiae Nostrae. In 1701, he was ennobled by Emperor Joseph I as Freiherr of the Empire. With his death in 1714, the academy temporarily closed.
National Research University "Moscow Power Engineering Institute" is a public university based in Moscow, Russia. It offers training in the fields of Power Engineering, Electric Engineering, Radio Engineering, Electronics, Information Technologies and Management.
Ewha Womans University is a private women's research university in Seoul, South Korea. It was originally founded as Ewha Haktang on May 31, 1886, by a missionary Mary F. Scranton. Currently, Ewha Womans University is one of the world's largest female educational institutes and one of the most prestigious universities in South Korea. It is also the only University in South Korea that has a partnership with Harvard University. Many of the female leaders in South Korea, including politicians, CEOs, and legal professionals, have graduated from Ewha Womans University.
The Albert Einstein College of Medicine is a private, nonprofit, research-intensive medical school in the Morris Park neighborhood of the Bronx, New York City, United States. Founded in 1953, Einstein operates as an independent degree-granting institution as part of the integrated healthcare Montefiore Health System and also has affiliation with Jacobi Medical Center.
The University of Surrey is a public research university in Guildford, Surrey, England. The university received its royal charter in 1966, along with a number of other institutions following recommendations in the Robbins Report. The institution was previously known as Battersea College of Technology and was located in Battersea Park, London. Its roots however, go back to Battersea Polytechnic Institute, founded in 1891 to provide further and higher education in London, including its poorer inhabitants.
The Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts has provided education in the arts for more than 250 years, playing its part in the development of the art of Denmark. History The Royal Danish Academy of Portraiture, Sculpture, and Architecture in Copenhagen was inaugurated on 31 March 1754, and given as a gift to the King Frederik V on his 31st birthday.
The United States Air Force Academy is a United States service academy in El Paso County, Colorado, immediately north of Colorado Springs. It educates cadets for service in the officer corps of the United States Air Force and United States Space Force. It is the youngest of the five service academies, having graduated its first class in 1959, but is the third in seniority. Graduates of the academy's four-year program receive a Bachelor of Science degree and are commissioned as second lieutenants in the U.S. Air Force or U.S. Space Force. The academy is also one of the largest tourist attract...
The University of Puerto Rico is the main public university system in the U.S. Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. It is a government-owned corporation with 11 campuses and approximately 44,200 students and approximately 4,450 faculty members. UPR has the largest and most diverse academic offerings in the commonwealth, with 472 academic programs of which 32 lead to a doctorate.
Rikkyo University, also known as Saint Paul's University, is a private university, in Ikebukuro, Tokyo, Japan. Riikyo is one MARCH universities, the group of elite private universities in the Kanto region, together with Meiji, Aoyama Gakuin, Chuo, and Hosei.
The University of Hawaii at Mānoa is a public land-grant research university in Mānoa, a neighborhood of Honolulu, Hawaii. It is the flagship campus of the University of Hawaiʻi system and houses the main offices of the system. Most of the campus occupies the eastern half of the mouth of Mānoa Valley, with the John A. Burns School of Medicine located adjacent to the Kakaʻako Waterfront Park.
The University of North Texas is a public research university in Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. UNT's main campus is in Denton, Texas, and it also has a satellite campus in Frisco, Texas. It offers 112 bachelor's, 94 master's, and 38 doctoral degree programs. Established in 1890, UNT has achieved remarkable growth and is now counted among the largest universities in the nation. In the fall semester of 2023, it achieved a record enrollment of 46,940 students. UNT is the largest university in Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex and the third largest university in Texas, following Texas A&M and UT Austin.
, 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.
The California Institute of the Arts is a private art university in Santa Clarita, California. It was incorporated in 1961 as the first degree-granting institution of higher learning in the US created specifically for students of both the visual and performing arts. It offers Bachelor of Fine Arts, Master of Fine Arts, Master of Arts, and Doctor of Musical Arts degrees through its six schools: Art, Critical Studies, Dance, Film/Video, Music, and Theater.
The University of Seville is a university in Seville, Andalusia, Spain. Founded under the name of Colegio Santa María de Jesús in 1505, at 2022 has a student body of 57.214, and is ranked 6th among Spanish universities.
Tokyo Fuji University is a private university in Shinjuku, Tokyo, Japan. The predecessor of the school was founded in 1943. It was chartered as a junior college in 1951 and became a four-year college in 2002.
The George Washington University is one of the largest United States private universities in terms of enrollment. Almost 10,000 undergraduates attend George Washington. GW has residence halls on two of its three campuses. The Foggy Bottom campus is the university's main campus, where most of the residence halls can be found, in an urban setting. Also in Washington's Foxhall neighborhood is the Mount Vernon campus, formerly the Mount Vernon College for Women. The Mount Vernon campus provides a more suburban residential setting.
Claude Bernard University Lyon 1 is one of the three public universities of Lyon, France. It is named after the French physiologist Claude Bernard and specialises in science and technology, medicine, and sports science. It was established in 1971 by the merger of the 'faculté des sciences de Lyon' with the 'faculté de médecine'.
The University of Wyoming is a public land-grant research university in Laramie, Wyoming. It was founded in March 1886, four years before the territory was admitted as the 44th state, and opened in September 1887. The University of Wyoming is unusual in that its location within the state is written into the state's constitution. The university also offers outreach education in communities throughout Wyoming and online.
Doshisha University, also referred to as Dodai, is a private university in Kyoto City, Japan. Doshisha University is one of the most prestigious universities in Japan today, with particularly strong influence in the Kansai region, and is considered one of the most selective private universities in Japan. The acceptance rate for the 40,924 applicants for the 2014 academic year was 35.6%, with acceptance rate in some departments under 15%. In 2013, the university was ranked fourth among Japanese private universities for "schools to which parents wish to send their child", following Waseda Univer...
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Chiba University
Chiba University is a national university in the city of Chiba, Japan. It offers Doctoral degrees in education as part of a coalition with Tokyo Gakugei University, Saitama University, and Yokohama National University. The university was formed in 1949 from existing educational institutions in Chiba Prefecture, and over a period of years absorbed Chiba Medical University , a preparatory department of the Tokyo Medical and Dental University, Chiba Normal School , Tokyo Polytechnic High School , Chiba Horticultural High School, among others. Chiba University was reincorporated in 2010 under the National University Corporation Act.
Sean M. Carroll ranks among our Top Influential Physicists Today.
The American Film Institute is an American nonprofit film organization that educates filmmakers and honors the heritage of the motion picture arts in the United States. AFI is supported by private funding and public membership fees.
Moscow Aviation Institute is one of the major engineering institutes in Moscow, Russia. Since its inception MAI has been spearheading advances in aerospace technology both within Russia and worldwide. The university laid emphasis on laboratory instruction in applied science and engineering, specific to the demands of aerospace industry.
The University of Kassel is a university founded in 1971 located in Kassel, Hessen, in central Germany. As of February 2022 it had about 25,000 students and about 3300 staff, including more than 300 professors.
Shanghai University is a municipal public university located in Shanghai, China. It is affiliated with the Shanghai Municipal People's Government, and co-funded with the Ministry of Education. The university is part of Project 211 and the Double First Class University Plan.
National Cheng Kung University is a public research university located in Tainan, Taiwan. The university is best known for engineering, computer science, medicine, and design programs. NCKU played a role in creating the Taiwan Miracle by helping Taiwan to transform from an agriculture-based society to an industrialized economy during the 1960s and 1970s, and further becoming one of the Four Asian Tigers. NCKU has been taking the top spot at the Global Views Monthly Taiwan Graduate Employability Rankings for 6 consecutive years.
The is a public research university in Amsterdam, Netherlands, being founded in 1880. The VU Amsterdam is one of two large, publicly funded research universities in the city, the other being the University of Amsterdam . The literal translation of the Dutch name is "Free University". "Free" refers to independence of the university from both the State and the Dutch Reformed Church. Both within and outside the university, the institution is commonly referred to as "the VU". Although founded as a private institution, the VU has received government funding on a parity basis with public universities since 1970.
Radboud University is a public research university located in Nijmegen, the Netherlands. The university bears the name of Saint Radboud, a 9th-century Dutch bishop who was known for his intellect and support of the underprivileged.
Jawaharlal Nehru University is a public research university located in South West Delhi, India. It was established in 1969 and named after Jawaharlal Nehru, India's first Prime Minister. The university is known for leading faculties and research emphasis on social sciences and applied sciences.
The University of Gdańsk is a public research university located in Gdańsk, Poland. It is one of the top 10 universities in Poland and is also an important centre for the studies of the Kashubian language.
Ulm University is a public university in Ulm, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. The University was founded in 1967 and focuses on natural sciences, medicine, engineering sciences, mathematics, economics and computer science. With 9,891 students , it is one of the youngest public universities in Germany. The campus of the university is located north of the city on a hill called Oberer Eselsberg, while the university hospital has additional sites across the city.
Yenching University was a private research university in Beijing, China, from 1919 to 1952. The university was formed out of the merger of four Christian colleges between the years 1915 and 1920. The term "Yenching" comes from an alternative name for old Beijing, derived from its status as capital of the state of Yan, one of the seven Warring States that existed until the 3rd century BC.
Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology, commonly known by the acronym BUET, is a public engineering technological research university in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Founded in 1876 as the Dacca Survey School and gained university status in 1962, it is the oldest institution for the study of engineering, architecture, and urban planning in Bangladesh.
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.
Pompeu Fabra University is a public university located in the city of Barcelona, Catalonia in Spain. The university was created by the Autonomous Government of Catalonia in 1990 and was named after Pompeu Fabra. It is highly competitive in research and has as its goal the transformation of education to meet the challenges of the future. UPF has been ranked the best university in Spain since 2015 and 16th best young university in the world in 2022 by the Times Higher Education World University Rankings.
Tehran University of Medical Sciences is the largest and most highly ranked medical university of Iran. In September 2008, Iran's Minister of Health, Treatment, and Medical Education, Dr. Lankarani, called TUMS a pioneer in research throughout the country with a noticeable lead over its peer universities.
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Anna University
Anna University is a public state university located in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India. The main campus is in Guindy. It was originally established on 4 September 1978 and is named after C. N. Annadurai, the former Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu.
