(U-WIRE) STANFORD, Calif. — In a new ranking evaluating the global sophistication of the world’s top 100 universities, Stanford University came second only to Harvard University, according to Newsweek magazine.

Newsweek based such rankings on each school’s academic programs preparing students for international careers, ability to attract top faculty members from the global community and the number of international students. The range of study-abroad opportunities each school offers its students was also considered.

The ranking of global universities Newsweek compiled was created using a system designed to reflect these principles, along with excellence in research.

The system draws upon ranking systems developed by Shanghai Jiaotong University and the Times of London Higher Education Survey, with variables including “the number of highly-cited researchers in various academic fields, the number of articles published in Nature and Science, the number of articles listed in the ISI [Institute for Scientific Information] Social Sciences and Arts & Humanities indexes, the percentage of international faculty, the percentage of international students, citations per faculty member (using ISI data), the ratio of faculty to students, and library holdings (number of volumes),” the Newsweek article said.