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Harvard 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ has topped its second university ranking in a week, taking the top spot in a national ranking of US universities in addition to its pole position in Shanghai Jiao Tong 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ¡¯s global league table.

In the 2011 edition of US News & World Report¡¯s Best Colleges ranking, published today, Ivy League and private institutions maintain their dominance.

Harvard is followed by Princeton 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ, which has slipped to second after being ranked joint first last year. Yale 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ is third and Columbia 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ fourth.

The highest-ranked institution outside the East Coast is Stanford 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ in fifth, while the California Institute of Technology and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology share seventh place.

The highest-rated public institution is the 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ of California, Berkeley in 22nd place. With the 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ of California, Los Angeles in 25th place, the results represent another impressive showing by the Californian system, despite the major budget cuts it has suffered.

The US News & World Report ranking is aimed at students and parents, and is based on criteria such as funding per student, graduate prospects and student-retention rates.

It measures institutional reputation via a poll of academics and, for the first time this year, the high-school guidance counsellors who assist prospective students in the admissions process.

However, the ranking does not use direct measures of research reputation or academic output, unlike the two major world rankings: the forthcoming Times Higher Education World 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ Rankings and the Shanghai Jiao Tong Academic Ranking of World Universities, which was published last week.

richard.reynolds@tsleducation.com

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