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QS World University Rankings: Europe 2026 results
28 January 2026
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QS World University Rankings: Europe 2026 results
Summary:
- The University of Oxford is now the best university in Europe, leapfrogging ETH Zurich and Imperial College London.
- Seven of the top 10 are UK universities.
- Work to improve employability is visible across European institutions.
The QS World University Rankings: Europe 2026 is now live! In this edition, we have ranked over 950 institutions across Europe using 12 performance indicators. 42 countries and territories are represented.
To ensure these Rankings are as relevant as possible to European institutions, we have used a different selection of indicators. This approach enables direct comparisons within the region, offering a more granular view of metrics for institutional benchmarking and helping students identify the highest quality universities.
The top 10 universities in Europe, according to QS
With a score of 100/100 in five indicators, the University of Oxford leads the Ranking. Following significant improvements in our Sustainability and International Student Ratio indicators, the University of Oxford overtook ETH Zürich and Imperial College London. ETH Zurich dropped in our Inbound and Outbound Exchange Students indicators, and the Faculty-Student Ratio indicator. Meanwhile, Imperial College London saw a more significant drop in Papers per Faculty, alongside our two Exchange Student indicators.
Between rank 11 and 20, there was significant volatility, with no institution maintaining the same rank. Big improvers include Delft University of Technology, which is now 11th (previously 15th) and Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, and the University of Warwick which moved from 21st and 22nd respectively to =17th.
QS World University Rankings: Europe 2026 methodology
This Ranking uses different indicators to the QS World University Rankings 2026. This is to highlight Europe's unique characteristics as a regional ranking. Different indicators include:
- Citations per Paper and Papers per Faculty: These indicators are separated from the broader ‘Citations per faculty’ indicator to better represent Europe's high proportion of research-oriented institutions.
- International Student Diversity: This replaces International Student Ratio to better reflect the robust data on diversity and the wider range of international students at European universities.
- Inbound and Outbound Exchange Student Ratios. Learn more about our ranking methodology here.
QS World University Rankings 2026: The headlines
- Denmark has the highest average score in seven of the twelve indicators (among locations with five or more ranked institutions).
- Ireland is the most improved location (among locations with five or more ranked institutions), with 87.5% of its ranked universities moving up.
- Western Europe is the most represented sub-region, with 227 ranked institutions. It is also the most improved one, with 39.2% of ranked institutions moving up.
- Istanbul is the most represented metropolitan area with 29 ranked universities.
- Baku Engineering University saw the largest improvement, moving up 96 places to =395.
New entrants
Over 290 universities are newly ranked this year. The top new entrant is City St George’s, University of London (127th). Otto-von-Guericke-Universität Magdeburg placed =321s in its inaugural ranking, with TUHH Hamburg University of Technology placing at =336th.
Which European universities are best for employability?
Employability is clearly a key focus for European institutions. Employment Outcomes is typically the strongest indicator for institutions, with an average score of 43/100; 24% of institutions improved their Employer Reputation rank.
The University of Oxford is top for Employer Reputation, followed by the University of Cambridge and Imperial College London. Institut Polytechnique de Paris is fourth, making it the first non-UK university in this indicator.
In our Employment Outcomes indicator, the University of Oxford again takes top spot. However, the University of Cambridge is second, followed by The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE). This dissonance between Employer Reputation and Employability Outcomes suggests that, for the University and Cambridge and LSE, there is work to be done to promote the excellence of their graduates and shore up their Employer Reputation. The same applies to the institutions outlined below, who have the largest disparity between their Employment Outcomes rank, and their Employer Reputation rank.
Regional leaders
Eastern Europe
Southern Europe
Western Asia
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