America is apparently a very good place to get a college education, judging by U.S. News & World Report's list of "Best Global Universities" for 2016. 
 
 U.S. institutions, led by Harvard University at No. 1, dominated the list, taking eight of the top 10 spots. 
 
 The Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the University of California-Berkeley and Stanford University were ranked Nos. 2, 3 and 4, respectively. They were followed by two U.K. universities, Oxford and Cambridge, at Nos. 5 and 6. Rounding out the Top 10 were California Institute of Technology, UCLA, Columbia University and the University of Chicago. 
 
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 A total of 750 schools in 57 countries made the Best Global Universities list. They were ranked based on 12 indicators that measure their academic research performance and their global and regional reputations. You can read more about the methodology here. 
 
 Related: Making the Grade: Princeton Review Releases Best Colleges Guide 
 
 "We have designed the rankings to be a starting point to help students and their families identify institutions that speak to their specific needs, whether they are planning on staying close to home or traveling abroad for college — or whether they are seeking a specific academic degree," Robert Morse, chief data strategist at U.S. News, said in a press release. 
 
 Related: College Rankings Are Out, and Princeton Tops the List Again 
 
 U.S. News is better known for its annual rankings of national universities and liberal arts colleges. This is its second global universities list. 
 
 While Harvard topped the global list, it came in at No. 2 (behind Princeton) on the publication's annual list of top American universities. That's because U.S. News uses different indicators for each ranking. 

 These institutions from the U.S. and more than 60 other countries have been ranked based on 13 indicators that measure their academic research performance and their global and regional reputations. Students can use these rankings to explore the higher education options that exist beyond their own countries' borders and to compare key aspects of schools' research missions. These are the world's top 1,250 universities. 
 
 See the methodology »
– Harvard University is the best university in the world, according to US News' ranking of 750 universities around the globe. Harvard, which also topped the Best Global Universities rankings in 2014, kept the top spot despite an additional 250 schools that were evaluated this time around. Not only does the Massachusetts school rank highest in overall strength in terms of research activity and reputation—on which the rankings were based—but it also houses the largest academic library of any university in the world and had the largest endowment last year with $36.4 billion. Rounding out the top five universities according to the list are MIT, University of California at Berkeley, Stanford, and Oxford University. A school's global and regional research reputation, publications, citations, and international collaboration helped determine the rankings, designed "to help students and their families identify institutions that speak to their specific needs," a rep says, per NBC News. While universities from 57 countries made the list, the US came out on top with 181 schools—including eight in the top 10—compared to China's 57 schools and the UK's 55 universities. In terms of regional rankings, South Africa's University of Cape Town was best in Africa, the University of Tokyo was best in Asia, the University of Melbourne was tops in Australia and New Zealand, and Brazil's Universidade de Sao Paulo ranked highest in Latin America.