One wonders how past prestige affects the opinion of international students, and why some universities have such low staff/student scores.The relatively lowly ranking of Berkeley (below Melbourne!) is a particular surprise.

Times Higher Education-QS World University Rankings 2009

http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/Rankings2009-Top200.html

update from BBC:  “Europe strong in university table..A table of leading world universities shows a fall in the number of North American universities in the top 100 from 42 in 2008 to 36 in 2009.”