Universities in North America
Higher Education in North America
Introduction
What are the most popular Universities in each North American country? uniRank tries to answer this question by publishing a list of North American countries and providing a ranking of their higher-education institutions meeting the following uniRank selection criteria:
- being chartered, licensed or accredited by the appropriate higher education-related organization in each North American country
- offering at least four-year undergraduate degrees (bachelor degrees) or postgraduate degrees (master or doctoral degrees)
- delivering courses predominantly in a traditional, face-to-face, non-distance education format
North American Universities by Country
North American Universities Search Engine New
searching 1,873 universities in North America
Snapshot of Higher Education in North America (2020 data)
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North American Universities World Representation
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uniRank North American Universities World Representation Index: 13.8%
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Public vs Private Universities in North America
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Non-profit vs for-profit Universities in North America
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Challenges for the higher education system in North America
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Top 200 Universities in North America
How many Universities are there in North America? According to the uniRank database in 2020 there are currently 1,893 officially recognized higher-education institutions in North America. Considering that the uniRank database includes a total number of 13,723 officially recognized higher education institutions the proportion of North American Universities in the world is as follows:
Being the estimated population of the North American continent around 4,9% of the total world population (source: United Nations' World Population Prospects, the 2015 Revision), the North American Higher education system and offerings seem to be significantly overrepresented in the world at least in terms of the number of higher education institutions.
How many public and private Universities are there in North America? Out of the total number of 1,893 recognized higher educations institutions in North America included in the uniRank database, 683 are public (i.e. officially affiliated to or run by national, state or local governments) and 1206 are private. The type of control of the remaining North American Universities included in the uniRank database is unknown or it has not been reported.
In terms of the number of public versus private Universities, the uniRank database shows a much higher presence of private higher education institutions in the North American area as a whole. However, 160 out of the top 200 Universities in North America (80%) are public higher education institutions. Differences and peculiarities may still exist in each North American country higher education system.
What type of entities are Universities in North America? Out of the total number of 1,893 recognized higher educations institutions in North America included in the uniRank database, 1,838 are non-profit and 53 are for-profit. The type of entity of the remaining North American Universities included in the uniRank database is unknown or it has not been reported. As a general rule, the vast majority of North American public higher education institutions are not-for-profit organisations, not necessarily in legal terms but certainly in terms of nature and institutional purposes such as role, scope and mission.
What are the main challenges that higher education in North America has to currently face? According to uniRank the main issues of the higher education system in North America are declining student enrollment, decreasing public funding, financial difficulties and lower world rankings.
uniRank publishes twice a year a non-academic ranking of the top 200 Universities in North America based on valid, unbiased and non-influenceable web metrics provided by independent web intelligence sources. Please read the ranking methodology in the About Us page for more information.
According to the 2020 uniRank University Ranking this is the list of the top 10 Universities in North America:2020 Top 10 Universities in North America
| Rank | University | Country |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |  us |
| 2 | Harvard University | us |
| 3 | Stanford University | us |
| 4 | University of California, Berkeley | us |
| 5 | Cornell University | us |
| 6 | University of Washington | us |
| 7 | Columbia University in the City of New York | us |
| 8 | University of Michigan | us |
| 9 | Penn State University | us |
| 10 | University of Minnesota-Twin Cities | us |
more top Universities in North America
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