World University Rankings (2024)

The Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2023 include 1,799 universities across 104 countries and regions, making them the largest and most diverse university rankings to date.

The table is based on 13 carefully calibrated performance indicators that measure an institution’s performance across four areas: teaching, research, knowledge transfer and international outlook.

This year’s ranking analysed over 121 million citations across more than 15.5 million research publications and included survey responses from 40,000 scholars globally. Overall, we collected over 680,000 datapoints from more than 2,500 institutions that submitted data.

Trusted worldwide by students, teachers, governments and industry experts, this year’s league table reveals how the global higher education landscape is shifting.

View the World University Rankings 2023 methodology

The University of Oxford tops the ranking for the seventh consecutive year. Harvard University remains in second place, but the University of Cambridge jumps from joint fifth last year to joint third.

The highest new entry is Italy’s Humanitas University, ranked in the 201-250 bracket.

The US is the most-represented country overall, with 177 institutions, and also the most represented in the top 200 (58).

Mainland China now has the fourth-highest number of institutions in the top 200 (11, compared with 10 last year), having overtaken Australia, which has dropped to fifth (joint with the Netherlands).

Five countries enter the ranking for the first time – all of them in Africa (Zambia, Namibia, Mozambique, Zimbabwe and Mauritius).

Harvard tops the teaching pillar, while Oxford leads the research pillar. Atop the international pillar is the Macau University of Science and Technology.

Overall, 1,799 universities are ranked. A further 546 universities are listed with “reporter” status, meaning that they provided data but did not meet our eligibility criteria to receive a rank, and agreed to be displayed as a reporter in the final table.

Read our analysis of the World University Rankings 2023 results

Download a copy of the World University Rankings 2023 digital report

To raise your university’s global profile with Times Higher Education, contact branding@timeshighereducation.com

To unlock the data behind THE’s rankings and access a range of analytical and benchmarking tools, click here

World University Rankings (2024)

FAQs

What is the #1 university in the world? ›

World University Rankings
RankUniversity
1Harvard UniversityNorth America
2Stanford UniversityNorth America
3California Institute of Technology (Caltech)North America
4Peking UniversityAsia
45 more rows

Which world university ranking is the most accurate? ›

What Is the Most Reliable University Ranking?
  • Source. ...
  • U.S. News & World Report Best Global Universities Rankings. ...
  • Source. ...
  • Nature Index. ...
  • Center for World University Rankings (CWUR) ...
  • THE Impact Rankings. ...
  • QS Graduate Employability Rankings. ...
  • Round University Ranking (RUR)
May 22, 2024

What is the most reliable university ranking website? ›

THE (Times Higher Education) has been providing trusted performance data on universities for students and their families, academics, university leaders, governments and industry, since 2004.

Which world university ranking system is the best? ›

The QS World University Rankings are a ranking of the world's top universities produced by Quacquarelli Symonds published annually since 2004.

What is the hardest college to get into? ›

Harvard, Stanford and Princeton, unsurprisingly, are America's toughest colleges to get into in 2023, according to Niche's most recent rankings.

What is the most elite school in the world? ›

Most prestigious universities in the world 2023
Reputation rank 2023Reputation rank 2022University
11Harvard University
22Massachusetts Institute of Technology
33Stanford University
44University of Oxford
6 more rows
Feb 13, 2024

What is the most respected university ranking? ›

Download a copy of the World University Rankings 2024 digital report
RankName Country/Region
1University of Oxford United Kingdom
2Stanford University United States
3Massachusetts Institute of Technology United States
4Harvard University United States
21 more rows

Which university has the best reputation in the world? ›

Harvard University tops the ranking for the 13th year in a row, and the US remains the most represented country, with 52 institutions, although this is four fewer than last year. With six universities, the US also dominates the top 10. The UK, China and Japan also feature in this group.

What is the most reputable university? ›

Here are the best global universities
  • Harvard University.
  • Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
  • Stanford University.
  • University of California Berkeley.
  • University of Oxford.
  • University of Washington Seattle.
  • Columbia University.
  • University of Cambridge.

What is the controversy of university ranking? ›

One of the first controversies came in April of 2022, when an investigation report found that members of the administration at the University of Southern California had instructed officials to willfully exclude data in their report to U.S. News & World Report with the intention of boosting their graduate school ranking ...

What is the most credible college ranking? ›

The U.S. News college rankings are viewed as the gold standard of college ranking lists. Its list is the most well-known and referenced. Here is a basic overview of how U.S. News determines its rankings: A total weight of 22% is given to factors related to "outcomes," such as student retention and graduation rates.

What is the #1 top college? ›

National Universities
  • #1. Princeton University.
  • #2. Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
  • #3. Harvard University (tie)

Why is Dartmouth ranked so high? ›

With an overall score of 89 out of 100, the high Dartmouth College ranking stems from a variety of factors. These include student outcomes (such as graduation rate and job placement), expert ratings, and faculty resources.

What are the criticism of QS World University Rankings? ›

The ranking has been criticized for its overreliance on subjective indicators and reputation surveys, which tend to fluctuate over time and form a feedback loop. Concerns also exist regarding the global consistency and integrity of the data used to generate the QS rankings.

Which country has the best university system in the world? ›

Best countries for university education in 2024
  • USA.
  • UK.
  • Germany.
  • Australia.
  • Canada.
  • France.
  • Spain.
  • South Korea.
Apr 5, 2024

Is Harvard #1 in the world? ›

The US News & World Report Global Universities rankings of Harvard University for 2023 is 1st, and it has been Unchanged in last three years. The US News & World Report Rankings for Harvard University for 2022 was 1st, whereas for 2021 was 1st.

What is the #1 ranked college? ›

The top 10 colleges in the US according to U.S. News' Best National University Rankings are: #1 Princeton University. #2 Columbia University, Harvard University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Is Oxford better than Harvard? ›

While not as lavishly funded as Harvard, Oxford is renowned for its research in humanities, natural sciences, and social sciences. The university's European location and extensive collaborations with institutions across the continent make it an ideal choice for research with a European or global perspective.

Is MIT or Harvard more prestigious? ›

Both MIT and Harvard are widely recognized as among the most prestigious institutions in the world, but they excel in different academic domains. MIT is celebrated for its unparalleled contributions to science, technology, and innovation, making it highly prestigious in those fields.

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