Top 50 des Universités du monde – par continent
| # | Université | Ville – Pays | Nombre d’étudiants (approx.) | Date de création | Étudiants célèbres / Alumni |
| Europe | |||||
| 1 | University of Oxford | Oxford, UK | 26,000 | 1096 | Stephen Hawking, T.S. Eliot |
| 2 | University of Cambridge | Cambridge, UK | 24,000 | 1209 | Isaac Newton, Charles Darwin |
| 3 | ETH Zurich | Zurich, Suisse | 22,000 | 1855 | Albert Einstein |
| 4 | Imperial College London | Londres, UK | 20,000 | 1907 | Alexander Fleming |
| 5 | Sorbonne University | Paris, France | 55,000 | 1257 | Marie Curie |
| 6 | LMU Munich | Munich, Allemagne | 50,000 | 1472 | Max Planck |
| 7 | University of Copenhagen | Copenhague, Danemark | 37,000 | 1479 | Niels Bohr |
| 8 | University of Amsterdam | Amsterdam, Pays-Bas | 31,000 | 1632 | Spinoza |
| 9 | University of Edinburgh | Édimbourg, UK | 35,000 | 1583 | David Hume |
| 10 | University of Bologna | Bologne, Italie | 87,000 | 1088 | Dante Alighieri |
| Amérique du Nord | | 11 | MIT | Cambridge, USA | 11,000 | 1861 | Kofi Annan | | 12 | Harvard University | Cambridge, USA | 23,000 | 1636 | Barack Obama | | 13 | Stanford University | Stanford, USA | 16,000 | 1885 | Sergey Brin, Larry Page | | 14 | Princeton University | Princeton, USA | 8,000 | 1746 | Albert Einstein (prof.) | | 15 | Yale University | New Haven, USA | 12,000 | 1701 | Hillary Clinton | | 16 | University of Toronto | Toronto, Canada | 97,000 | 1827 | Lester B. Pearson | | 17 | McGill University | Montréal, Canada | 40,000 | 1821 | Leonard Cohen | | 18 | University of Chicago | Chicago, USA | 17,000 | 1890 | Milton Friedman | | 19 | Columbia University | New York, USA | 33,000 | 1754 | Barack Obama | | 20 | UC Berkeley | Berkeley, USA | 42,000 | 1868 | Steve Wozniak |
| Asie | | 21 | Tsinghua University | Pékin, Chine | 38,000 | 1911 | Xi Jinping | | 22 | Peking University | Pékin, Chine | 44,000 | 1898 | Lu Xun | | 23 | University of Tokyo | Tokyo, Japon | 28,000 | 1877 | Yukio Mishima | | 24 | Kyoto University | Kyoto, Japon | 22,000 | 1897 | Hideki Yukawa | | 25 | National University of Singapore | Singapour | 42,000 | 1905 | Tony Tan | | 26 | HKU (University of Hong Kong) | Hong Kong | 30,000 | 1911 | Sun Yat-sen | | 27 | Seoul National University | Séoul, Corée du Sud | 28,000 | 1946 | Ban Ki-moon | | 28 | Indian Institute of Science | Bangalore, Inde | 4,000 | 1909 | C.N.R. Rao | | 29 | IIT Bombay | Mumbai, Inde | 12,000 | 1958 | Nandan Nilekani | | 30 | University of Malaya | Kuala Lumpur, Malaisie | 21,000 | 1905 | Mahathir Mohamad |
| Afrique | | 31 | University of Cape Town | Cape Town, Afrique du Sud | 29,000 | 1829 | Max Price | | 32 | University of Witwatersrand | Johannesburg, Afrique du Sud | 40,000 | 1922 | Nelson Mandela | | 33 | University of Nairobi | Nairobi, Kenya | 80,000 | 1956 | Wangari Maathai | | 34 | Makerere University | Kampala, Ouganda | 35,000 | 1922 | Yoweri Museveni | | 35 | University of Ghana | Accra, Ghana | 40,000 | 1948 | Kofi Annan | | 36 | University of Ibadan | Ibadan, Nigeria | 41,000 | 1948 | Wole Soyinka | | 37 | University of Dakar (UCAD) | Dakar, Sénégal | 80,000 | 1957 | Cheikh Anta Diop | | 38 | University of Cairo | Le Caire, Égypte | 250,000 | 1908 | Naguib Mahfouz | | 39 | University of Addis Ababa | Addis Ababa, Éthiopie | 48,000 | 1950 | Meles Zenawi | | 40 | University of Stellenbosch | Stellenbosch, Afrique du Sud | 32,000 | 1918 | Jan Smuts |
| Océanie & Amérique latine | | 41 | University of Melbourne | Melbourne, Australie | 52,000 | 1853 | Peter Doherty | | 42 | University of Sydney | Sydney, Australie | 75,000 | 1850 | Germaine Greer | | 43 | Australian National University | Canberra, Australie | 20,000 | 1946 | Bob Hawke | | 44 | University of Queensland | Brisbane, Australie | 55,000 | 1909 | Geoffrey Rush | | 45 | University of Auckland | Auckland, Nouvelle-Zélande | 40,000 | 1883 | Helen Clark | | 46 | University of Otago | Dunedin, Nouvelle-Zélande | 21,000 | 1869 | Lord Rutherford | | 47 | University of São Paulo | São Paulo, Brésil | 90,000 | 1934 | Fernando Henrique Cardoso | | 48 | UNAM (Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México) | Mexico City, Mexique | 360,000 | 1910 | Octavio Paz | | 49 | Pontifical Catholic University of Chile | Santiago, Chili | 33,000 | 1888 | Ricardo Lagos | | 50 | University of Buenos Aires | Buenos Aires, Argentine | 300,000 | 1821 | Che Guevara |
Conclusion poétique (FR/EN)
- FR : « Ces 50 universités sont les phares du savoir : chaque campus est une cité de mémoire, chaque étudiant célèbre une étoile qui éclaire le monde. »
- EN : “These 50 universities are beacons of knowledge: each campus a city of memory, each famous alumnus a star illuminating the world.”
