The Center for World University Rankings has published its results for 2016, which show that Harvard University has come out tops.
The ranking system measures the quality of education and training of students as well as the prestige of the faculty members and the quality of their research.
“In addition to providing authoritative global university rankings, CWUR provides consulting services to governments and educational institutions,” it said.
“Since 2014, the CWUR ranking expanded to list the top 1,000 out of 25,000+ institutions of higher education worldwide, making it the largest academic ranking of global universities.”
Best universities in the world
The table below details the top 10 universities in the world, and the top South African institutions which made the ranking.