The Best Universities In The World: U. of C. Ranks No. 8

CHICAGO (CBS) -- The University of Chicago ranks No. 8 among universities in the world, according to an analysis by the Center for World University Rankings (CWUR).

The top-ranked school is Harvard, followed by Stanford and MIT. Eight of the top 10 are U.S. universities.

Northwestern University ranks No. 22 globally, based largely on the number of alumni who have held CEO positions at top companies and quality faculty research, according to CWUR. Its quality of education was ranked No. 163.

The University of Illinois comes in at No. 33 and earned high marks for the quality of education and faculty.

The University Of Chicago scored top 20 rankings in nearly all of the indicators used by CWUR to rank the world's top 1000 universities:

1) Quality of Education, measured by the number of a university's alumni who have won major international awards, prizes, and medals relative to the university's size [25%]
2) Alumni Employment, measured by the number of a university's alumni who have held CEO positions at the world's top companies relative to the university's size [25%]
3) Quality of Faculty, measured by the number of academics who have won major international awards, prizes, and medals [25%]
4) Publications, measured by the number of research papers appearing in reputable journals [5%]
5) Influence, measured by the number of research papers appearing in highly influential journals [5%]
6) Citations, measured by the number of highly cited research papers [5%]
7) Broad Impact, measured by the university's h-index [5%]
8) Patents, measured by the number of international patent filings [5%]

Other Illinois universities on the global list include:

University of Illinois-Chicago, No. 203
Loyola University, No. 437
Illinois Institute of Technology, No. 480
Southern Illinois, No. 590
Northern Illinois, No. 643

The Big 10 global rankings, which include nine universities in the top 50:

University Of Michigan No. 19
Northwestern University, No. 22
University Of Wisconsin No. 25
University Of Illinois, No. 33
Purdue University, No. 43
Penn State University, No. 47
University Of Minnesota, No. 48
Ohio State University, No. 49
Rutgers University, No. 50
University of Maryland, No. 72
Indiana University, No. 106
Michigan State University, No. 118
University Of Iowa, No. 141
University Of Nebraska, No. 314