The Times Higher Education (THE) World University Rankings 2027 have been released today, September 30, 2026, with the University of Oxford retaining the number 1 spot for the 11th consecutive year.
Interestingly, the top 10 positions have been completely dominated by universities from the United States (US) and the United Kingdom (UK). The top 30 also feature 22 universities from these two countries, while the remaining spots are taken by institutions from China, Singapore, Canada, Germany, Japan and Switzerland.
The second spot in this year’s THE World University Rankings has been secured by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), which has a score of 97.8, just 0.1 points behind Oxford’s overall score of 97.9.
Princeton University and Stanford University share the third position, with both institutions recording an overall score of 97.
THE World University Rankings 2027: US, UK Dominate Top 30
Among the top 30 universities featured in the THE World University Rankings, which assessed 2,297 universities across 118 countries and territories this year, only eight positions are held by universities from countries other than the UK and US.
These include China’s Tsinghua University at 11th, Switzerland’s ETH Zurich at 12th, China’s Peking University at 13th, Singapore’s National University of Singapore at 15th, Canada’s University of Toronto at 22nd, Germany’s Technical University of Munich at 25th, Japan’s University of Tokyo at 27th and Singapore’s Nanyang Technological University at 28th.
The 29th position is shared by three universities - New York University and Northwestern University from the US, and the UK’s University of Edinburgh.
|
Rank |
Name |
Overall |
Teaching |
Research Environment |
Research Quality |
Industry |
International Outlook |
|
1 |
University of Oxford United Kingdom |
97.9 |
97.1 |
100.0 |
96.8 |
99.9 |
95.8 |
|
2 |
Massachusetts Institute of Technology United States |
97.8 |
99.1 |
96.5 |
99.4 |
100.0 |
90.9 |
|
=3 |
Princeton University United States |
97.0 |
97.4 |
98.1 |
98.4 |
97.2 |
85.3 |
|
=3 |
Stanford University United States |
97.0 |
96.4 |
98.3 |
99.3 |
100.0 |
83.4 |
|
5 |
University of Cambridge United Kingdom |
96.9 |
96.5 |
99.9 |
96.0 |
87.1 |
95.8 |
|
6 |
Harvard University United States |
96.7 |
95.3 |
100.0 |
98.5 |
84.0 |
88.5 |
|
8 |
Imperial College London United Kingdom |
95.2 |
92.0 |
96.1 |
97.1 |
92.0 |
97.7 |
|
=9 |
University of California, Berkeley United States |
94.3 |
87.4 |
99.4 |
98.3 |
99.2 |
83.2 |
|
=9 |
Yale University United States |
94.3 |
93.5 |
96.3 |
96.7 |
90.0 |
81.9 |
|
11 |
Tsinghua University China |
93.9 |
96.0 |
99.3 |
94.1 |
100.0 |
60.6 |
|
12 |
ETH Zurich Switzerland |
93.6 |
89.3 |
98.3 |
94.4 |
85.0 |
94.2 |
|
13 |
Peking University China |
92.8 |
95.3 |
98.8 |
89.7 |
100.0 |
67.8 |
|
14 |
University of Pennsylvania United States |
91.5 |
89.7 |
92.2 |
95.5 |
94.6 |
78.1 |
|
15 |
National University of Singapore Singapore |
91.1 |
80.9 |
95.3 |
95.4 |
100.0 |
93.3 |
|
16 |
The University of Chicago United States |
90.7 |
88.3 |
92.4 |
95.9 |
75.9 |
79.9 |
|
=17 |
Johns Hopkins University United States |
90.3 |
84.7 |
92.0 |
95.1 |
100.0 |
81.4 |
|
=17 |
UCL United Kingdom |
90.3 |
83.6 |
89.9 |
97.7 |
75.2 |
96.8 |
|
19 |
Columbia University United States |
90.0 |
88.2 |
90.5 |
94.9 |
76.5 |
83.4 |
|
20 |
University of California, Los Angeles United States |
89.9 |
86.1 |
93.7 |
95.0 |
91.6 |
68.1 |
|
21 |
Cornell University United States |
89.5 |
86.1 |
91.7 |
94.7 |
70.6 |
83.7 |
|
22 |
University of Toronto Canada |
89.1 |
79.6 |
94.8 |
91.3 |
97.5 |
91.3 |
|
23 |
University of Michigan-Ann Arbor United States |
87.1 |
85.8 |
89.0 |
92.9 |
79.2 |
66.2 |
|
24 |
Carnegie Mellon University United States |
85.9 |
73.9 |
84.1 |
99.1 |
90.4 |
84.7 |
|
25 |
Technical University of Munich Germany |
85.1 |
73.3 |
86.7 |
92.6 |
100.0 |
86.4 |
|
26 |
University of Washington United States |
84.6 |
79.0 |
83.0 |
96.1 |
78.0 |
69.8 |
|
27 |
The University of Tokyo, Japan |
84.3 |
94.5 |
96.1 |
68.8 |
100.0 |
51.6 |
|
28 |
Nanyang Technological University, Singapore |
84.0 |
69.4 |
82.2 |
95.6 |
100.0 |
93.9 |
|
=29 |
New York University (NYU), United States |
83.5 |
76.6 |
82.7 |
92.4 |
75.7 |
81.3 |
|
=29 |
Northwestern University, United States |
83.5 |
74.3 |
79.5 |
96.5 |
98.8 |
74.5 |
|
=29 |
University of Edinburgh, United Kingdom |
83.5 |
75.6 |
78.4 |
94.8 |
72.2 |
95.2 |
THE World University Rankings 2027 Highlights
- University of Oxford retains the number one position for the 11th consecutive year.
- China’s Tsinghua University rises to 11th, overtaking Switzerland’s ETH Zurich.
- Asia moves ahead of continental Europe for the first time.
- National University of Singapore (NUS) enters the top 15.
- Three Asian universities feature in the top 15 for the first time.
