The 2015 ranking of global universities has just been published by education specialists QS, ahead of the start of the academic year. You can take a look at the whole tables here.
There's fierce competition for the top spots in every country.
The rankings are based on academic reputation, reputation with employers, student to staff ratio and the number of citations per academic paper the institution produces. They've produced their methodology here.
Many of the best higher education institutions in the world are found in Europe, and we've got this year's top 20 listed below.
20. Ruprecht-Karls-Universitaet Heidelberg, Germany's oldest university, just sneaks onto the list. It was founded in 1386.
19. Delft Institute of Technology is one of two Netherlands-based universities that makes it onto the list. The school was established in the 1840s to train civil servants for the Dutch East Indies.
18. The University of Glasgow is one of two Scottish universities on the list, punching well above its weight with a population of around 5.3 million.
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