Purpose: The ranking of top universities in the world has generated increased interest in the factors that enhance university performance. The purpose of this paper is to identify economic and cultural factors that affect the number of top ranking universities in each country. Design/methodology/approach: This paper first identifies the number of universities ranked among the first 300 in the world. Multiple regression is used to determine the relationship between the number of top ranked universities per country and the independent variables of gross domestic product (GDP), corruption perception, press freedom, and power distance. Findings: Regression analysis revealed that the number of top ranked universities per country increased with GDP and lack of corruption, but decreased with decreased press freedom and higher power distance. Research implications/limitations: This paper paves the way for further research on cultural, social, economic and political factors that affect university excellence. Similar research can also be conducted to investigate the impact of cultural aspects such as power distance and attitudes towards freedom, not just on institutions of higher learning, but on learning organizations in different industries. Practical implications: This paper draws attention to important external factors that affect university excellence and that are usually overlooked by managers and policy makers. These managers and policy makers may minimize the negative effects that limited GDP--high corruption, reduced press freedom, and high power distance--may have on university performance. Some recommendations are presented to achieve this objective. Originality/value: The paper describes factors affecting university excellence beyond the internal environment and processes of the university. It considers the economic factors of GDP and other national factors such us corruption levels, power distance, and press freedom. It provides a good understanding of barriers to university excellence in many countries. These barriers may also be pertinent to other institutions where learning is highly significant. (Contains 8 tables.)