When choosing a college/university to attend, the institutions that often come to mind are those within ones nation. Sometimes students are unaware of the many great schools located beyond the borders of their city, state and/or country.

The U.S. News World's Best Universities rankings, based on the QS World University Rankings, evaluated schools in countries such as the United Kingdom, Australia, China, and more, and identified them to be the world's top universities in 2011.

Six indicators are drawn together to form an international ranking of universities:

-        Academic reputation from Global Survey (40%)

-       Employer Reputation from Global Survey (10%)

-        Citations per Faculty from Sciverse Scopus (20%)

-        Faculty Student Ratio (20%)

-       Proportion of International Students (5%)

-       Proportion of International Faculty (5%)

U.S. News ranked 400 institutions as the world's best, but the list below names the top 20:

#1: University of Cambridge

Location: United Kingdom

      Overall Score: 100.0

      Academic Score: 100.0

      Employer Reputation Score: 100.0

      Faculty-Student Ratio Score: 98.9

      International Faculty Score: 98.4

      International Students Score: 96.6

      Citations per Faculty Score: 92.7

#2: Harvard University

Location: United States

      Overall Score: 99.3

      Academic Score: 100.0

      Employer Reputation Score: 100.0

      Faculty-Student Ratio Score: 96.4

      International Faculty Score: 76.9

      International Students Score: 86.0

      Citations per Faculty Score: 100.0

#3: Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)

Location: United States

      Overall Score: 99.2

      Academic Score: 100.0

      Employer Reputation Score: 100.0

      Faculty-Student Ratio Score: 99.9

      International Faculty Score: 50.0

      International Students Score: 97.9

      Citations per Faculty Score: 99.6

#4: Yale University

Location: United States

      Overall Score: 98.8

      Academic Score: 100.0

      Employer Reputation Score: 100.0

      Faculty-Student Ratio Score: 100.0

      International Faculty Score: 84.3

      International Students Score: 65.6

      Citations per Faculty Score: 97.2

#5: University of Oxford

Location: United Kingdom

      Overall Score: 98.0

      Academic Score: 100.0

      Employer Reputation Score: 100.0

      Faculty-Student Ratio Score: 100.0

      International Faculty Score: 98.2

      International Students Score: 95.9

      Citations per Faculty Score: 82.0

#6: Imperial College London

Location: United Kingdom

      Overall Score: 97.6

      Academic Score: 99.8

      Employer Reputation Score: 100.0

      Faculty-Student Ratio Score: 99.7

      International Faculty Score: 99.7

      International Students Score: 99.9

      Citations per Faculty Score: 79.6

#7: UCL (University College London)

Location: United Kingdom

      Overall Score: 97.3

      Academic Score: 99.4

      Employer Reputation Score: 82.0

      Faculty-Student Ratio Score: 99.0

      International Faculty Score: 96.2

      International Students Score: 99.7

      Citations per Faculty Score: 89.5

#8: University of Chicago

Location: United States

      Overall Score: 96.1

      Academic Score: 99.9

      Employer Reputation Score: 90.0

      Faculty-Student Ratio Score: 95.8

      International Faculty Score: 71.5

      International Students Score: 81.4

      Citations per Faculty Score: 92.3

#9: University of Pennsylvania (UPenn)

Location: United States

      Overall Score: 95.7

      Academic Score: 98.7

      Employer Reputation Score: 90.0

      Faculty-Student Ratio Score: 99.5

      International Faculty Score: 64.1

      International Students Score: 66.3

      Citations per Faculty Score: 94.9

#10: Columbia University

Location: United States

      Overall Score: 95.3

      Academic Score: 99.9

      Employer Reputation Score: 100.0

      Faculty-Student Ratio Score: 95.8

      International Faculty Score: --

      International Students Score: 86.2

      Citations per Faculty Score: 95.8

#11: Stanford University

Location: United States

      Overall Score: 93.4

      Academic Score: 100.0

      Employer Reputation Score: 100.0

      Faculty-Student Ratio Score: 74.9

      International Faculty Score: 36.6

      International Students Score: 96.5

      Citations per Faculty Score: 100.0

#12: California Institute of Technology (Caltech)

Location: United States

      Overall Score: 93.0

      Academic Score: 99.0

      Employer Reputation Score: 25.8

      Faculty-Student Ratio Score: 97.0

      International Faculty Score: 99.0

      International Students Score: 93.9

      Citations per Faculty Score: 100.0

#13: Princeton University

Location: United States

      Overall Score: 91.9

      Academic Score: 100.0

      Employer Reputation Score: 67.9

      Faculty-Student Ratio Score: 75.3

      International Faculty Score: 96.5

      International Students Score: 69.3

      Citations per Faculty Score: 100.0

#14: University of Michigan

Location: United States

      Overall Score: 91.3

      Academic Score: 99.8

      Employer Reputation Score: 90.0

      Faculty-Student Ratio Score: 91.5

      International Faculty Score: 53.6

      International Students Score: 51.2

      Citations per Faculty Score: 85.3

#15: Cornell University

Location: United States

      Overall Score: 90.7

      Academic Score: 99.8

      Employer Reputation90.0 Score:

      Faculty-Student Ratio Sco74.7re:

      International Faculty Score: 44.7

      International Students Score: 70.2

      Citations per Faculty Score: 96.8

#16: Johns Hopkins University

Location: United States

      Overall Score: 90.0

      Academic Score: 95.9

      Employer Reputation Score: 55.9

      Faculty-Student Ratio Score: 99.3

      International Faculty Score: --

      International Students Score: 70.9

      Citations per Faculty Score: 99.8

#17: McGill University

Location: Canada

      Overall Score: 89.6

      Academic Score: 98.8

      Employer Reputation Score: 89.9

      Faculty-Student Ratio Score: 82.0

      International Faculty Score: 94.2

      International Students Score: 62.6

      Citations per Faculty Score:

#18: ETH Zurich (Swiss Federal Institute of Technology)

Location: Switzerland

      Overall Score: 89.5

      Academic Score: 99.2

      Employer Reputation Score: 74.6

      Faculty-Student Ratio Score: 54.4

      International Faculty Score: 100.0

      International Students Score: 99.1

      Citations per Faculty Score: 99.0

#19: Duke University

Location: United States

      Overall Score: 89.2

      Academic Score: 95.4

      Employer Reputation Score: 65.0

      Faculty-Student Ratio Score: 99.8

      International Faculty Score: --

      International Students Score: 55.5

      Citations per Faculty Score: 96.3

#20: University of Edinburgh

Location: United Kingdom

      Overall Score: 87.8

      Academic Score: 98.9

      Employer Reputation Score: 90.0

      Faculty-Student Ratio Score: 73.7

      International Faculty Score: 88.8

      International Students Score: 92.7

      Citations per Faculty Score: 68.8

Following the Top 20 are:

#21: University of California Berkeley (UCB)

          Location: United States

#22: University of Hong Kong (HKU)

          Location: Hong Kong

#23: University of Toronto

          Location: Canada

#24: Northwestern University

          Location: United States

#25: The University of Tokyo

          Location: Japan

#26: Australian National University (ANU)

          Location: Australia

#27: King's College London (KCL)

          Location: United Kingdom

#28: National University of Singapore (NUS)

          Location: Singapore

#29: University of Manchester

          Location: United Kingdom

#30: University of Bristol

          Location: United Kingdom