Cada año se publica a nivel internacional, una serie de series de Ranking Mundial de Universidades.

Uno de los mas prestigiosos y reconocidos es el que publica anualmente la Universidad de Shangaicon las 500 mejores instituciones de educacion superior.

La hegemonia de Estados Unidos es importante y en general de los paises del primer mundo.

Dos Universidades Chilenas logran estar en este prestigioso ranking: La Universidad Catolica de Chile y la Universidad de Chile.

A continuacion un extracto de este listado con las mejores 72 Universidades del Mundo:

Academic Ranking of World Universities - 2012

Fuente: http://www.shanghairanking.com/ARWU2012.html

World Rank	Institution*	Country /Region	National Rank	Total Score	Score on
1	Harvard University		1	100	100
2	Stanford University		2	72.8	38
3	Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)		3	71.8	69
4	University of California, Berkeley		4	71.6	67.5
5	University of Cambridge		1	69.8	80.3
6	California Institute of Technology		5	64.1	48.5
7	Princeton University		6	62.1	52.3
8	Columbia University		7	60.1	64.2
9	University of Chicago		8	57.2	61.8
10	University of Oxford		2	56.1	51.2
11	Yale University		9	54.8	45.7
12	University of California, Los Angeles		10	52.2	27.7
13	Cornell University		11	50.8	38.7
14	University of Pennsylvania		12	50.5	33.4
15	University of California, San Diego		13	49.6	20.3
16	University of Washington		14	48.4	22.4
17	The Johns Hopkins University		15	47.4	39.9
18	University of California, San Francisco		16	46.6	0
19	University of Wisconsin - Madison		17	45.4	32.5
20	The University of Tokyo		1	43.8	32.5
21	University College London		3	43.7	29.7
22	University of Michigan - Ann Arbor		18	43.4	33.9
23	Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich		1	43.3	31.2
24	The Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine		4	42.4	15.3
25	University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign		19	41.9	31.6
26	Kyoto University		2	41.3	31.2
27	New York University		20	40.8	29.7
27	University of Toronto		1	40.8	21
29	University of Minnesota, Twin Cities		21	39.7	27.7
30	Northwestern University		22	38.8	16.3
31	Washington University in St. Louis		23	37.6	19.6
32	Rockefeller University		24	37	18
33	University of Colorado at Boulder		25	36.6	13.3
34	University of California, Santa Barbara		26	36.5	15.3
35	The University of Texas at Austin		27	35.8	17.1
36	Duke University		28	35.2	16.3
37	University of Paris Sud (Paris 11)		1	34.9	32.1
38	University of Maryland, College Park		29	34.7	20.3
39	University of British Columbia		2	34.6	16.3
40	The University of Manchester		5	33.9	19.6
41	University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill		30	33.5	9.4
42	Karolinska Institute		1	33.4	23.6
42	Pierre and Marie Curie University - Paris 6		2	33.4	32.5
44	University of Copenhagen		1	33.1	23
45	University of California, Irvine		31	32.2	0
46	University of Southern California		32	31.9	0
47	University of California, Davis		33	31.8	0
48	The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas		34	31.6	19.6
49	Pennsylvania State University - University Park		35	31.5	10.8
50	Vanderbilt University		36	31.4	16.3
51	Carnegie Mellon University		37	30.6	33.4
51	The University of Edinburgh		6	30.6	21.7
53	Technical University Munich		1	30.5	36.8
53	The Hebrew University of Jerusalem		1	30.5	33.9
53	Utrecht University		1	30.5	24.3
56	Purdue University - West Lafayette		38	30.2	14.3
57	University of Melbourne		1	30.1	18
58	University of Pittsburgh		39	30	19.6
59	University of Zurich		2	29.9	5.4
60	University of Munich		2	29.7	27.1
61	Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey - New Brunswick		40	29.6	10.8
62	University of Heidelberg		3	29.5	14.3
63	McGill University		3	29.3	32.1
64	The Australian National University		2	29.1	14.3
65	Brown University		41	29	15.3
65	The Ohio State University - Columbus		41	29	13.3
67	University of Oslo		1	28.9	18.8
68	King's College London		7	28.6	13.3
69	University of Geneva		3	28.5	23
70	University of Bristol		8	28.4	7.7
71	Boston University		43	28	12.1
72	University of Florida		44	27.9	18