But when it comes to the highest ranked universities

these and other Ivy League schools don't even cracked the Top 5

So what are the world's best universities?

Well, according to an index by the Times Higher Education

Stanford ranks third in the world

Most people associate Stanford with Tech capital "Silicon Valley"

which is where the school is located

and in fact it is largely because of Stanford

that the region is now the global capital of entrepreneurship and technology

In the 1940s and 50s

the university heavily encouraged students and faculty to start their own companies

eventually leading the companies like Google and Snapchat

and still today the school is known to produce some of the most successful entrepreneurs

A Stanford degree is extremely high demand

and the school maintains the lowest acceptance rate in the country

It admits less than 5% of applicants

Much of Stanford's credibility and desirability come from an impressive list of alumni

which includes Chelsea Clinton, Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer and president John F. Kennedy

Even better than Stanford is the California Institute of Technology

also known as Caltech

The university is predominantly focus on engineering, technology and applied sciences

In the 1930s, the university founded NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory

which builds space robots and conducts astronomy missions

Caltech continues to manage JPL and the two work together on dozens of space missions

The school's faculty and the alumni include 34 Nobel Laureates

and according to a 2015 study, more Caltech graduates go on to earn PhD than any other alma mater

But the best university in the world is located outside of the United States

Oxford University in the UK is regularly ranked first

Compared to Caltech and Stanford, Oxford is enormous

with 44 colleges and more than 100 libraries

It's also one of the oldest universities with historian tracing instructions as far back as the 11th century

Oxford's ascension to the Top comes in part from its exceptionally high research income

Between 2014 and 2015, charities, individuals and businesses funded nearly 680 million dollars into the university for research

Oxford is also home to the largest university press, and one of the oldest and most prestigious scholarships - The Rhodes Scholarship

While there are many lists ranking colleges around the world

most tend to rank these three schools near the top

Although most of the top schools are in the west, a number of schools in China are quickly making their way up the list

Over the last 2 decades, China has invested more than 30 billion dollars in its best universities

And it seems to be working

The number of Chinese universities in the top 200 doubled in 2016

with Beijing's Peking University ranking highest, although still only in 42nd place worldwide

Chinese parents are known to send their children to study in the United States

However, with China's own universities on the rise

we may someday see the tables turn

We can't do episodes like this without our sponsors

And this episode is brought to you by Domain.com

If you're an entrepreneur, innovator or building a small business

Domain.com is the place to go when that next great idea hits you

Get 20% off, Domain.com's already affordable domain names and web posting

when you use the coupon code 'Seeker' at checkout

When you think domain names, think 'Domain.com'

So the best schools don't seem to be a part of the Ivy League

but these eight private universities are still in high demand

and taking millions of dollars every year

So why is the Ivy League so powerful? Find out in this video

Together the eight schools in dominance add up to nearly $120 billion dollars

that's roughly equal to the entire worth of the US state of Arkansas

Harvard leads the pack by a large margin

reporting a nearly $40 billion dollar in 2015

Thanks for watching Seeker Daily everyone, don't forget to like and subscribe and you'll get new videos from us everyday