The QS World University Rankings 2026 are now live.
Get all the insights, analysis and discussion in QS Insights Magazine for free here.
You can also access the full results in Excel format here.
Here, you can find the headlines in brief.
The top 10 in the QS World University Rankings 2026
| 2026 rank | Institution | +/- change from 2025 |
| 1 | Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), US | 0 |
| 2 | Imperial College London, UK | 0 |
| 3 | Stanford University, US | +3 |
| 4 | University of Oxford, UK | -1 |
| 5 | Harvard University, US | -1 |
| 6 | University of Cambridge, UK | -1 |
| 7 | ETH Zurich, Switzerland | 0 |
| 8 | National University of Singapore (NUS), Singapore | 0 |
| 9 | University College London (UCL), UK | 0 |
| 10 | California Institute of Technology (Caltech), US | 0 |
MIT continues its streak as the best university in the world, according to the QS World University Rankings. The top 10 have remained relatively stable, with Stanford University the only exception. Through improvements in Sustainability and the number of International Faculty, Stanford has risen from 6th to 3rd.
The key facts from the QS World University Rankings 2026
- 1,501 ranked institutions
- 478 moved up
- 573 moved down
- 106 countries or locations represented (+3 compared to 2025)
- 112 newly ranked institutions
The most improved countries in the QS World University Rankings 2026
Every QS World University Rankings sees country-level shifts, and this year’s edition is no different.
41% of Indian institutions have improved their ranking, with only 20% moving down – while China and Germany have a higher percentage moving up, they also have a higher percentage moving down, making India’s performance particularly impressive. The US continues to be the most represented location with 192 institutions. 11 of the US institutions in the top 100 improved their ranking.
Five of Hong Kong’s nine institutions are in the top 100, and four have improved their rank.
In the United Arab Emirates, all institutions that improved their rank did so by more than five places.
The big movers in the QS World University Rankings 2026
Sunway University in Malaysia is the most improved institution, improving their rank by 129 positions. They have seen improvements across most indicators, with their Internatioanl Student Ratio and Citations per Faculty seeing particularly large jumps.
The University of Chicago breaks into the top 20, moving up 8 places to 13th.
South Korea’s Yonsei University moves into 50th position.
Of our 112 new institutions ranked this year, the newly merged Adelaide University in Australia is the top performer, placing 82nd globally.
Get more analysis
Access in-depth analysis of the QS World University Rankings 2026 results in QS Insights Magazine.
