more than 600,000 students are enrolled in new york city's more than 120 colleges and universities, which is the most of any city in the united states and more than other major global cities such as london, and tokyo. more than half a million are just in the city university of new york (cuny) system , including both degree and professional programs. new york city's colleges and universities had also higher average scores than those two cities in 2019, according to the academic ranking of world universities. new york city has many famous private universities such as barnard college, columbia university, cooper union, fordham university, new york university, new york institute of technology, rockefeller university, and yeshiva university; many of these universities are ranked as some of the best universities in the world.