The United States of America has some of the world’s most prestigious institutions of higher learning including the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Harvard and Yale Universities, Princeton University and many more “Ivy League” institutions, graduates of which have won Nobel Prizes, founded billion-dollar companies and found cures for diseases.

American universities are very attractive to international students and researchers who are working toward excellence in the academic world.

A ranking of the world’s universities by China’s own prestigious Shanghai Jiao Tong University ranks 30 American universities out of a worldwide total 45 top institutions in their Academic Ranking of World Universities.

The United States has a total of 4,495 degree-granting institutions, out of that 2,774 are four-year universities and 1,721 are two-year colleges.

During 2010 the United States had 20.3 million students enrolled in higher education, or 5.7 per cent of the total population.  About 14.6 million of those students were full-time.