Massachusetts Institute of Technology has dethroned Cambridge University which topped the QS World University Rankings in 2010 and 2011.
Cambridge is now in second position and five times topper Harvard University, neighbor of MIT, has secured third spot in the rankings released early Tuesday.
The annual rankings rate schools based on Academic Peer Review, International Orientation, and Faculty-student ratio among other criteria.
Up to 20,000 universities from around the world were looked at this year before 700 institutions, were ranked as the top in the world. A record 72 countries are featured in these 700 institutions, manifesting a rapid acceleration in international mobility.
The top 10 universities are dominated by US and UK universities. ZTH Zurich, Switzerland is the only non-U.S and non-UK school featured in Top 15.
In total, 130 U.S universities feature among the world's top 700 universities, with six of the top ten and 13 of the top 20. Neighboring Great White North has two universities in the top 20 for the first time, with University of Toronto climbing to 19th, one place behind McGill.
UK has occupied four of the top six places with UCL (4), Oxford (5) and Imperial College London (6)
China which is being seen as the next potential Superpower has propelled its position with seven of the top ten Mainland Chinese universities improving on their overall position, with just two falling. University of Hong Kong remains the Top University of Asia.
India is the only BRIC nation without a university in the top 200, although two of the leading three institutions, IIT Delhi (212) and IIT Kanpur (278), have improved on their 2011 position.
Here's the list of Top 20 Best Universities of the World:-
1. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, US
2. University of Cambridge, UK
3. Harvard University, US
4. University College London, UK
5. University of Oxford, UK
6. Imperial College London, UK
7. Yale University, US
8. University of Chicago, US
9. Princeton University, US
10. California Institute of Technology, US
11. Columbia University, US
12. University of Pennsylvania, US
13. ETH Zurich (Swiss Federal Institute of Technology), Switzerland
14. Cornell University, US
15. Stanford University, US
16. John Hopkins University, US
17. University of Michigan, US
18. McGill University, Canada
19. University of Toronto, Canada
20. Duke University, US
For a subject wise, region wise and complete list of the top world universities visit- https://www.topuniversities.com/university-rankings/world-university-rankings/2012
