Interested in studying abroad?

The World's Top 100 Universities

Want to study at one of the world's top 100 universities? The QS World University Rankings offers an annually updated list of not only the top 100 universities in the world, but in fact the top 1,000.

In the 2020 edition of the QS World University Rankings, just under half of the top 100 universities in the world are located in the US (which has 29 representatives) or the UK (18). Here's a complete rundown of the world's top 100.

Rank	University	Location
1	Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)	United States
2	Stanford University	United States
3	Harvard University	United States
4	University of Oxford	United Kingdom
5	California Institute of Technology (Caltech)	United States
6	ETH Zurich - Swiss Federal Institute of Technology	Switzerland
7	University of Cambridge	United Kingdom
8	UCL (University College London)	United Kingdom
9	Imperial College London	United Kingdom
10	University of Chicago	United States
=11	National University of Singapore (NUS)	Singapore
=11	Nanyang Technological University, Singapore (NTU)	Singapore
13	Princeton University	United States
14	Cornell University	United States
15	University of Pennsylvania	United States
16	Tsinghua University	China
17	Yale University	United States
=18	Columbia University	United States
=18	EPFL - Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne	Switzerland
20	University of Edinburgh	United Kingdom
21	University of Michigan	United States
=22	Peking University	China
=22	University of Tokyo	Japan
24	Johns Hopkins University	United States
=25	University of Hong Kong	Hong Kong
=25	Duke University	United States
27	University of Manchester	United Kingdom
28	University of California, Berkeley (UCB)	United States
=29	Australian National University	Australia
=29	University of Toronto	Canada
31	Northwestern University	United States
32	Hong Kong University of Science and Technology	Hong Kong
=33	King's College London	United Kingdom
=33	Kyoto University	Japan
=35	McGill University	Canada
=35	University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA)	United States
37	Seoul National University	South Korea
38	University of Melbourne	Australia
39	New York University (NYU)	United States
40	Fudan University	China
41	KAIST - Korea Advanced Institute of Science & Technology	South Korea
42	University of Sydney	Australia
43	University of New South Wales (UNSW Sydney)	Australia
44	London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE)	United Kingdom
45	University of California, San Diego (UCSD)	United States
46	Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK)	Hong Kong
47	University of Queensland	Australia
48	Carnegie Mellon University	United States
49	University of Bristol	United Kingdom
50	Delft University of Technology	Netherlands
51	University of British Columbia	Canada
52	City University of Hong Kong	Hong Kong
53	Universite PSL	France
54	Zhejiang University	China
55	Technical University of Munich	Germany
56	University of Wisconsin-Madison	United States
57	Brown University	United States
=58	Tokyo Institute of Technology	Japan
=58	Monash University	Australia
=60	Shanghai Jiao Tong University	China
=60	Ecole Polytechnique	France
62	University of Warwick	United Kingdom
63	Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München	Germany
64	University of Amsterdam	Netherlands
65	University of Texas at Austin	United States
66	Ruprecht-Karls-Universitat Heidelberg	Germany
67	University of Glasgow	United Kingdom
68	University of Washington	United States
69	National Taiwan University (NTU)	Taiwan
70	Universiti Malaya (UM)	Malaysia
71	Osaka University	Japan
=72	Georgia Institute of Technology	United States
=72	University of Copenhagen	Denmark
74	Universidad de Buenos Aires (UBA)	Argentina
75	University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign	United States
76	University of Zurich	Switzerland
77	Sorbonne University	France
=78	Durham University	United Kingdom
=78	University of Sheffield	United Kingdom
80	KU Leuven	Belgium
81	University of Birmingham	United Kingdom
82	Tohoku University	Japan
83	Korea University	South Korea
84	Lomonosov Moscow State University	Russia
85	Rice University	United States
86	University of Western Australia	Australia
87	Pohang University of Science and Technology (POSTECH)	South Korea
88	University of Auckland	New Zealand
89	University of Science and Technology of China	China
90	University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill	United States
91	Hong Kong Polytechnic University	Hong Kong
92	Lund University	Sweden
=93	Pennsylvania State University	United States
=93	University of Leeds	United Kingdom
95	Sungkyunkwan University (SKKU)	South Korea
96	University of Nottingham	United Kingdom
97	University of Southampton	United Kingdom
=98	Boston University	United States
=98	KTH Royal Institute of Technology	Sweden
100	University of St Andrews	United Kingdom

Want to find out how the other 900 universities are ranked? Click here to find out.

This article was originally published in June 2013. It was updated in June 2020 with the most-recent rankings data.

Explore the QS World University Rankings 2020 in full

Related categories:

Lisa Marie G, Bonnie J & 21 others saved this

Written by QS Staff Writer

Want to leave a comment?

Please login or register to post
comment above our articles

Why join?

7 Comments

Sam S 5 months ago

I am 17 in Viet nam and I'll be leaving high school in 9 months. my gpa is around 4.0, my ielts score is 6,5, i have various certificates for various experience and i am interested in marketing/communication/business/international relations and i also do really need to apply for scholarships and financial aids. can someone give me some advices and suggestions please

Jasper V 5 months ago

Hi, sounds like the programme International Communication and Media might be something for you! It is a really cool course and fits your interest well. The university, Erasmus Rotterdam, is an amazing place which has a very diverse culture. In the city of Rotterdam you can sometimes hear more English than Dutch.

Fionnola S 7 months ago

I am 15 in Ireland, and Ill be leaving school in w years so I want to be prepared! My average scores on major tests tend to be B s, and im interested in medicine, English and art. Can someone please help me figure out what college would be best for me?

Shubh A 7 months ago

I am just year nine in New Zealand but I really want to plan my future. need suggestions and am interested in physics

Sabrina C 7 months ago

Hi Shubh, to get started you could have a look at the latest rankings by subject for physics - you can narrow the results down to show particular regions or countries you're interested in.

Raihanul I 8 months ago

I am from Bangladesh. I need a scholarship.

Sabrina C 8 months ago

Hello, we have a selection of different scholarship listings for various study destinations, subjects and student groups here.

You are here

Interested in studying abroad?

The World's Top 100 Universities

Related categories:

Want to leave a comment?

7 Comments

Quick Links

Most Shared this month

Recent Articles

Most Viewed This Month

Most Commented this month

You are here

Tell us about your student city!

Is coronavirus affecting your study plans?

Interested in studying abroad?

The World's Top 100 Universities

Related categories:

Want to leave a comment?

7 Comments

Quick Links

Most Shared this month

Recent Articles

Most Viewed This Month

Most Commented this month

Join us to start your higher education journey

Join us to start your higher education journey

Join us using:

Sign in using: