The best universities in the world (QS 2026)
The top 3 according to 5 votes from people: Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) · National University of Singapore (NUS) · Peking University. (Updated Aug 22, 2026.)
The top 20 of the QS World University Rankings 2026, published in June 2025. MIT is number one for the 14th year in a row, and eight of the top 20 are American.
Top 20
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1
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA. QS number one for the 14th consecutive year.
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2
National University of Singapore (NUS)
Singapore. The highest-ranked university in Asia.
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3
Peking University
Beijing, China. One of China's two leading universities.
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4
Cornell University
Ithaca, New York, USA. Ivy League.
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5
Imperial College London
London, UK. Science, engineering, medicine and business; second for the second year running.
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6
Stanford University
Stanford, California, USA. The heart of Silicon Valley.
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7
University of Oxford
Oxford, UK. The oldest university in the English-speaking world.
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8
Harvard University
Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA. Founded in 1636, the oldest in the US.
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9
University of Cambridge
Cambridge, UK. Founded in 1209; Newton, Darwin and Hawking studied or worked there.
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10
ETH Zurich
Zurich, Switzerland. The best in continental Europe; Einstein studied there.
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11
UCL (University College London)
London, UK. Founded in 1826 and the first in England to admit students regardless of religion.
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12
California Institute of Technology (Caltech)
Pasadena, California, USA. Small but mighty; it runs NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
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13
The University of Hong Kong
Hong Kong. Founded in 1911.
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14
Nanyang Technological University (NTU Singapore)
Singapore. A young university, founded in 1991.
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15
University of Chicago
Chicago, USA. Home of the 'Chicago school' of economics.
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16
University of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, USA. Founded by Benjamin Franklin.
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17
Tsinghua University
Beijing, China. China's engineering powerhouse.
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18
The University of Melbourne
Melbourne, Australia. Australia's top-ranked university.
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19
UNSW Sydney
Sydney, Australia. The University of New South Wales.
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20
Yale University
Ivy League university founded in 1701 in New Haven, Connecticut.
Candidates
They don't make it into the top 20… yet. Vote for them to move them up.
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21
University of California, Berkeley
Berkeley, California, USA. The leading public university in the US.
How is this ranking ordered? By people's votes: each ▲ adds a point and each ▼ takes one away. Anyone can vote and add what is missing.
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Comments (3)
Yale not even in the top 20? QS has strange criteria
Imperial at #2 is impressive.
MIT number one for like 14 years straight now in QS.