Launched today, the QS World University Rankings® 2021 features 1,029 of the most prestigious universities in the world, ranked based on a methodology which assesses each institution on six metrics, including its reputation amongst academics and employers.
Read on as we count down and find out the top university in each location below and reveal which universities ranked within the top 10 in the world this year.
Down two places this year but remaining in the top 10, is the UK’s University College London, earning a perfect score in the international students indicator.
Up one place this year, Imperial College London is now the highest-ranked institution in UK capital London. It earns perfect scores in the international faculty and international students indicators and scores well throughout all of the indicators.
The University of Cambridge remains in seventh place in the 2021 world university rankings. It earns perfect scores in academic reputation, employer reputation, the faculty student ratio and international faculty indicators.
Staying in sixth place, Switzerland’s ETH Zurich is once again the highest-ranked institution in continental Europe, with a perfect score in the citations per faculty indicator (a measure of research impact).
The University of Oxford falls one place this year to rank 5th in the 2021 world university rankings. Scoring consistently well across all the indicators, the University of Oxford earns perfect scores in the academic reputation, employer reputation and faculty student ratio indicators.
Climbing one place this year in the world university rankings, California Institute of Technology steals fourth place in 2021, with a perfect score in the international faculty indicator.
Harvard retains its position of third in the world for another year running, as well as being first in the world for the academic and employer reputation indicators.
Stanford University, located near Silicon Valley, continues to rank second among the top universities in the world and earns its best scores for its academic reputation (fourth) and employer reputation (fifth).
Once again, MIT is the world leader in the world university rankings for the ninth year running. MIT earns perfect scores across most of the indicators, including academic reputation, employer reputation, faculty student ratio and international faculty.
Best universities in the world by location
Outside of the US, the UK and Switzerland, 82 other locations were featured in the world university rankings – discover the highest-ranked institution in each of these below.
Argentina: Universidad de Buenos Aires – ranked joint 66th in the world
Australia: Australian National University (ANU) – ranked joint 31st
Austria: Universität Wien (University of Vienna) – ranked joint 150th
Bahrain: Applied Science University of Bahrain– ranked 651-700
Bangladesh: Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology and the University of Dhaka – both ranked 801-1000
Belarus: Belarus State University – ranked joint 317th
As Content Editor for TopUniversities.com and TopMBA.com, Chloe creates and publishes a wide range of articles for universities and business schools across the world. Chloe has a Bachelor’s degree in Economics from the University of Reading and grew up in Leicestershire, UK.
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Top Universities in the World 2021
By Chloe Lane
Updated April 21, 2021 Updated April 21, 2021Launched today, the QS World University Rankings® 2021 features 1,029 of the most prestigious universities in the world, ranked based on a methodology which assesses each institution on six metrics, including its reputation amongst academics and employers.
Read on as we count down and find out the top university in each location below and reveal which universities ranked within the top 10 in the world this year.
QS World University Rankings 2021 – Top 10
2021 Rank
2020 Rank
University
Location
1
1
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
United States
2
2
Stanford University
United States
3
3
Harvard University
United States
4
5
California Institute of Technology (Caltech)
United States
5
4
University of Oxford
United Kingdom
6
6
ETH Zurich (Swiss Federal Institute of Technology)
Switzerland
7
7
University of Cambridge
United Kingdom
8
9
Imperial College London
United Kingdom
9
10
University of Chicago
United States
10
8
UCL (University College London)
United Kingdom
10. UCL (University College London)
Down two places this year but remaining in the top 10, is the UK’s University College London, earning a perfect score in the international students indicator.
9. University of Chicago
The US’ University of Chicago is up one place this year and earns a very impressive score for the academic reputation indicator.
8. Imperial College London
Up one place this year, Imperial College London is now the highest-ranked institution in UK capital London. It earns perfect scores in the international faculty and international students indicators and scores well throughout all of the indicators.
7. University of Cambridge
The University of Cambridge remains in seventh place in the 2021 world university rankings. It earns perfect scores in academic reputation, employer reputation, the faculty student ratio and international faculty indicators.
6. ETH Zurich (Swiss Federal Institute of Technology)
Staying in sixth place, Switzerland’s ETH Zurich is once again the highest-ranked institution in continental Europe, with a perfect score in the citations per faculty indicator (a measure of research impact).
5. University of Oxford
The University of Oxford falls one place this year to rank 5th in the 2021 world university rankings. Scoring consistently well across all the indicators, the University of Oxford earns perfect scores in the academic reputation, employer reputation and faculty student ratio indicators.
4. California Institute of Technology (Caltech)
Climbing one place this year in the world university rankings, California Institute of Technology steals fourth place in 2021, with a perfect score in the international faculty indicator.
3. Harvard University
Harvard retains its position of third in the world for another year running, as well as being first in the world for the academic and employer reputation indicators.
2. Stanford University
Stanford University, located near Silicon Valley, continues to rank second among the top universities in the world and earns its best scores for its academic reputation (fourth) and employer reputation (fifth).
1. Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
Once again, MIT is the world leader in the world university rankings for the ninth year running. MIT earns perfect scores across most of the indicators, including academic reputation, employer reputation, faculty student ratio and international faculty.
Best universities in the world by location
Outside of the US, the UK and Switzerland, 82 other locations were featured in the world university rankings – discover the highest-ranked institution in each of these below.
Argentina: Universidad de Buenos Aires – ranked joint 66th in the world
Australia: Australian National University (ANU) – ranked joint 31st
Austria: Universität Wien (University of Vienna) – ranked joint 150th
Bahrain: Applied Science University of Bahrain– ranked 651-700
Bangladesh: Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology and the University of Dhaka – both ranked 801-1000
Belarus: Belarus State University – ranked joint 317th
Belgium: Katholieke Universiteit Leuven – ranked 84th
Brazil: Universidade de São Paulo (USP) – ranked joint 115th
Brunei Darussalam: University of Brunei Darussalam – ranked joint 254th
Bulgaria: Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski” – ranked 601-650th
Canada: University of Toronto – ranked joint 25th
Chile: Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile – ranked 121st
China: Tsinghua University – ranked 15th
Colombia: Universidad de Los Andes Colombia – ranked joint 227th
Costa Rica: Universidad de Costa Rica – ranked 571-580
Croatia: University of Rijeka and University of Zagreb – both ranked 800-1000
Cuba: Universidad de la Habana – ranked 498th
Cyprus: University of Cyprus – ranked joint 477th
Czech Republic: Charles University – ranked joint 260th
Denmark: University of Copenhagen – ranked joint 76th
Ecuador: Universidad de San Francisco de Quito – ranked 751-800
Egypt: American University in Cairo – ranked joint 411th
Estonia: University of Tartu – ranked 285th
Finland: University of Helsinki – ranked 104th
France: Paris Sciences et Lettres Research University (PSL) – ranked 52nd
Germany: Technische Universität München – ranked 50th
Georgia: Ivane Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University – ranked 601-650
Greece: National Technical University of Athens – ranked joint 477th
Hong Kong: University of Hong Kong (HKU) – ranked 22nd
Hungary: University of Szeged – ranked 501-510
India: Indian Institute of Technology Bombay (IITB) – ranked 172nd
Indonesia: Universitas Gadjah Mada– ranked joint 254th
Iran: Sharif University of Technology – ranked joint 409th
Iraq: University of Baghdad and University of Kufa– both ranked 801-1000
Israel: Hebrew University of Jerusalem – ranked joint 177th
Italy: Politecnico di Milano – ranked 137th
Japan: University of Tokyo – ranked 24th
Jordan: University of Jordan – ranked 601-650
Kazakhstan: Al-Farabi Kazakh National University – ranked 165th
Kuwait: Gulf University for Science and Technology (GUST) and Kuwait University – both ranked 801-1000
Latvia: Riga Technical University – ranked 701-750
Lebanon: American University of Beirut (AUB) – ranked joint 220th
Lithuania: Vilnius University – ranked joint 423rd
Macao, S.A.R., China: University of Macau – ranked joint 367th
Malaysia: Universiti Malaya (UM) – ranked 59th
Malta: University of Malta (L-Università ta' Malta) – ranked 801-1000
Mexico: Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM) – ranked 100th
Netherlands: Delft University of Technology – ranked 57th
New Zealand: University of Auckland – ranked 81st
Norway: University of Oslo – ranked 113th
Oman: Sultan Qaboos University – ranked joint 375th
Pakistan: National University of Sciences and Technology (NUST) – ranked 355th
Panama: Universidad Tecnológica de Panamá (UTP) – ranked 801-1000
Peru: Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú – ranked joint 432nd
Philippines: University of the Philippines – ranked joint 396th
Poland: University of Warsaw – ranked joint 321st
Portugal: University of Lisbon and University of Porto –ranked joint 357th
Qatar: Qatar University – ranked 245th
Republic of Ireland: Trinity College Dublin (TCD) – ranked 101st
Romania: Babes-Bolyai University and the University of Bucharest – both ranked 801-1000
Russia: Lomonosov Moscow State University – ranked 74th
Saudi Arabia: King Abdul Aziz University (KAU) – ranked 143rd
Singapore: National University of Singapore (NUS) – ranked 11th
Slovakia: Pavol Josef Safarik University – ranked 651-700
Slovenia: University of Ljubljana – ranked 601-650
South Africa: University of Cape Town – ranked joint 220th
South Korea: Seoul National University (SNU) – ranked 37th
Spain: Universitat de Barcelona (UB) – ranked 183rd
Sri Lanka: University of Peradeniya – ranked 801-1000
Sweden: Lund University – ranked 97th
Taiwan: National Taiwan University (NTU) – ranked joint 66th
Thailand: Chulalongkorn University – ranked joint 208th
Turkey: Koç University – ranked joint 465th
Ukraine: V.N. Karazin Kharkiv National University – ranked joint 477th
United Arab Emirates: Khalifa University– ranked joint 211th
Uruguay: Universidad ORT Uruguay – ranked joint 462nd
Venezuela: Universidad Central de Venezuela (UCV) – ranked 751-800
Vietnam: Vietnam National University - Ho Chi Minh City (VNU-HCM) and Vietnam National University, Hanoi – both ranked 801-1000
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This article was originally published in June 2020 . It was last updated in April 2021
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As Content Editor for TopUniversities.com and TopMBA.com, Chloe creates and publishes a wide range of articles for universities and business schools across the world. Chloe has a Bachelor’s degree in Economics from the University of Reading and grew up in Leicestershire, UK.
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