The world’s best universities ranked: Europe claims 2 of the top 3

The world’s best universities have been revealed in the 21st edition of the QS World University Rankings.

The list is again topped by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), which is located in Cambridge, Massachusetts in the US and has led the ranking for 13 consecutive years.

The next two universities were both located in the UK and are Imperial College London, which moved from 6th position to secure second place, and the University of Oxford in third.

Harvard University was ranked fourth again this year with a score of 96.8, followed closely by the University of Cambridge, which rounded out the top 5 with a score of 96.7.

This year’s annual assessment is the largest ever, including more than 1,500 universities.

It was based on the analysis of millions of academic papers and expert opinions.

The metrics used for the ranking included academic and employer reputation, faculty-student ratio, citations per faculty, international faculty ratio, international students ratio, international research network, employment outcomes, and sustainability.

Here’s a rundown of the top 10 universities this year based on their scores in the ranking indicators.

While the United States was the most represented country this year, with 197 ranked institutions and some of the highest rankings, Europe achieved some comparable success. European institutions, mostly in the UK, claimed half of the top 10 positions.

The UK had the second-highest number of universities in the ranking, with four of them in the top 10.

Top Universities in Europe

Based on the ranking, some of the best universities in Europe in 2025 include Imperial College of London (98.5) and the University of Oxford (96.9), both of which were top 3 worldwide.

The University of Cambridge (96.7), ETH Zurich (93.9), and University College of London (91.6) were next among European institutions.

After the UK, Switzerland secured the most places in the top 10 in Europe, represented by ETH Zurich, ranked seventh worldwide, and École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL).

France and Germany also made it into the top 10 in the continent, with Université PSL and the Technical University of Munich, respectively.

Honourable Mentions

Internationally, after the US and UK, mainland China has the most universities included in the listing, with 71 universities from the country.

Two Chinese universities, Peking University and Tsinghua University, are in the top 20, with scores of 88.5 and 86.5, respectively.

Universities in Singapore also ranked high on the list, with the National University of Singapore (NUS) making it to the top 10 and Nanyang Technological University, Singapore (NTU), ranked 14th worldwide.