Parents often ask us: when you say great international universities, what are you actually talking about?
We mean the global Top 50. The references are the Shanghai ranking (Academic Ranking of World Universities), Times Higher Education, and QS, in that year’s edition. Not “a good university somewhere.” Not any departure abroad.
Why that rank, and not simply a respected school nearby, or farther away?
Because these universities are not interchangeable names. They stand out in research, in what the degree unlocks afterwards, and in the kind of file they compare. A child with an Ivorian bac and a child with a Chinese one cannot be ranked on school marks alone. The Top 50 already knows that. It asks for more than the diploma.
What this changes, in practice
Prestige is not the argument. What the degree opens next is.
Some countries have routes for graduates of these universities. In the United Kingdom, two exist, under their real names. The High Potential Individual (HPI) visa is for a graduate of an eligible university — the UK government publishes the list, tied to the top of those rankings. If that year’s conditions are met, it can allow about two years in the UK without a job offer, or three after a doctorate. The official page: gov.uk/high-potential-individual-visa.
The Graduate Route (Graduate visa) comes after an eligible degree earned in the UK. The same order of duration: about two years, three for a PhD. The official page: gov.uk/graduate-visa.
This is not a promised visa. It is not “you will be able to move around, for sure.” It is a public rule, it changes, and the family checks it when the time comes. We name it so you see the stake. We do not sell it as a Liwaza outcome.
A job is not guaranteed by the ranking either. The rank opens a door. It does not sign the contract.
What these universities look at — and what the bac does not cover
Strong grades matter. The bac matters. They are not enough.
These schools compare different education systems. They often do it with a shared test. The SAT (reading, writing, maths) is that comparison. If the university you are aiming at asks for another admissions test, we prepare that one — the UAT, for example, for some destinations. The SAT does not say one bac is “weaker” than another. It says the systems do not compare as they stand.
They also look at academic English. IELTS or TOEFL show that the child can follow classes once there. Many Top 50 programmes ask for a high level, often C1. We do not promise that score. We build English over time.
They also look at who the child is beyond the report card. An activity held over time: robotics if the project leans tech, sport, arts, debate, community work. Duration, progress, a responsibility, a finished project. In the United States the file is holistic: extras, essays, recommendations, not only the average.
And they look at money at the same time as the file. Scholarship, student loan, family savings: that is prepared. It is not guaranteed. Outcomes depend on the profile, the scores, and the rules of the university and of funders. Liwaza prepares. Liwaza does not guarantee a scholarship or a loan. In favourable cases, support can reach about 90%. That is not “100% funded.”
Two ways parents arrive at this question
You already know Harvard, Oxford, Tsinghua, MIT, or another university of that rank. It inspires you. You do not know how your child gets in. That is one door.
Or you think career first: finance, computer science and AI, engineering, law, business, architecture. The job is the aim. A Top 50 university is the door. That is a second door.
The destinations we name are in that set: the United States, the United Kingdom, China, Japan, Singapore, South Korea — and a Canadian university only if it is truly in the Top 50 that year.
Sending a child “to study abroad,” especially for a France or Belgium plan, is a different project. It is not this one. We do not build it.
What we can say honestly
Liwaza Familles prepares a child from 6e (Grade 6). Later, in 4e or in high school, a family can still enter: the diagnostic says what is still realistic. We do not promise admission because we “followed the child long enough.”
We can be more confident about English than about the SAT. With the work and the teachers, a child can learn to speak English, often to B2. The SAT is the hard part. A very top score is missed, including by adults who take it on.
Even after years of preparation, a place at the very top of the top is never guaranteed. Those years are not wasted. The child arrives with a stronger file, for a selective university in the same set — not for a school chosen by default, somewhere else.
Where we start
We do not start with a list of tests to take at home.
We start with a diagnostic: where your child stands, how they reason, how they learn, their English, their interests. That session is for building a path. It is not a public exam. It is not a do-it-yourself manual either.
Then the work sits on four pillars: the SAT (and the UAT if the destination asks for it), IELTS or TOEFL, an activity held over time, and a funding plan. GRE, GMAT, an MBA: that is another path, later, not the path of a child in collège or lycée.
If this is your question — why the Top 50, and not simply “a good university abroad” — the next step is to see what is realistic for this child.