2011-12 Times Higher Education Top World University Rankings (Reputation)

LONDON, England -- 37 Collegiate Water Polo Association (CWPA) institutions are rated among the world's Top 100 institutions of higher education according to reputation as Times Higher Education released its 2011-12 World University Rankings.

Topping the list for the CWPA and the world is are Harvard University (men's varsity/women's varsity) and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (men's varsity/women's club) which rank at No. 1 and 2, respectively.

Stanford University (men's club) and the University of California-Berkeley (mens club/women's club) complete a CWPA laden Top Five as the Cardinal and Golden Bears rank at No. 4 and 5 to join Harvard, MIT and Cambridge University (United Kingdom) among the premier universities on the globe.

Princeton University (men's varsity/women's varsity), University of California-Los Angeles (men's club/women's club) and Yale University (mens club/women's club) also rate in the Top 10 as the Tigers, Bruins and Bulldogs rank at No. 7, 9 and 10, respectivley.  The remaining non-CWPA institution positions at No. 6 and 8 are held by the University of Oxford (United Kingdom) and the University of Tokyo (Japan).

Positions #11-20 are also dominated by Collegiate Water Polo Association institutions as the University of Michigan (men's club/women's club/women's varsity), Columbia University (men's club/women's club), Cornell University (men's club/women's club), Johns Hopkins University (men's varsity) and the University of Pennsylvania (men's club/women's club) stand at No. 12, 15, 16, 18 and 19 respectively, as 11 of the Top 20 universities in the world sponsor water polo programs in the CWPA.

Overall, 26 of the Top 50 institutions are Collegiate Water Polo Association members as No. 23 University of Illinois (men's club/women's club), No. 27 University of Wisconsin (men's club/women's club), No. 28 University of Washington (men's club/women's club), No. 32 University of Texas (men's club/women's club), No. 33 Duke University (men's club/women's club), No. 34 New York University (men's club/women's club), No. 36 University of California-San Diego (men's club/women's club), No. 37 Carnegie Mellon University (men's club/women's club), No. 39 University of Massachusetts (men's club), No. 41 Georgia Institute of Technology (men's club), No. 44 University of California-Davis (men's club/women's club), No. 47 University of Minnesota (men's club/women's club) and No. 47 Purdue University (men's club/women's club) also stand among the elite academic institutions.

Due to the close differential between the programs at No. 51-to-100, Times Higher Education elected to rank teams in groups of ten for the final 50 positions.

Ohio State University (men's club/women's club), Pennsylvania State University (mens' club/women's club) and University of California-Santa Barbara (men's club/women's club) hold positions from No. 51-to-60, while University of Pittsburgh (men's club/women's club) stands between No. 61-to-70.

Michigan State University (men's club/women's club), Texas A&M University (men's club/women's club) and Washington University in St. Louis (men's club/women's club) rate at No. 71-to-80, with Brown University (men's varsity/women's varsity) and University of Florida (men's club/women's club) earning nods between No. 81-to-90.

The final three CWPA institutions of Indiana University (men's club/women's club/women's varsity), Boston University (men's club/women's club) and University of Arizona (men's club/women's club) round out the Top 100 by holding positions at No. 91-to-100.

Among varsity teams in the CWPA, seven institutions earned recognition as No. 1 Harvard, No. 2 MIT, No. 7 Princeton, No. 12 Michigan and No. 18 Johns Hopkins rank among the Top 50, with Brown (No. 81-to-90) and Indiana (No. 91-to-100) completing the selections.

2011-12 marks the eighth year that Times Higher Education has published its annual rankings.  The Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2011-12 were developed in concert with its rankings data provider, Thomson Reuters, with input from more than 50 leading figures in the sector from 15 countries across every continent, and through 10 months of extensive consultation. 

The reputation table ranks institutions according to an overall measure of their esteem that combines data on their reputation for research and teaching.

The two scores are combined at a ratio of 2:1, giving more weight to research because feedback from our expert advisers suggests that there is greater confidence in respondents' ability to make accurate judgements regarding research quality.

The scores are based on the number of times an institution is cited by respondents as being "the best" in their field of expertise. Each respondent was able to nominate a maximum of 15 institutions. The number one institution, Harvard University, was selected most often.

The scores of all other institutions in the table are expressed as a percentage of Harvard's score, set at 100. For example, the University of Oxford received 71.2 per cent of the number of nominations that Harvard received, giving it a score of 71.2 against Harvard's 100. This scoring system is different from the one used in the World University Rankings and is intended to provide a clearer and more meaningful perspective on the reputation data in isolation.

The top 100 universities by reputation are listed, but Times Higher Education has agreed with data supplier Thomson Reuters to rank only the top 50 because the differentials between institutions after the top 50 become very narrow. The second group of 50 institutions are listed in groups of 10, in alphabetical order. Scores are given to one decimal place, but were calculated to a higher precision.