Top Universities in the World 2021

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.

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 5^th 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 66^th in the world

Australia: Australian National University (ANU) – ranked joint 31^st

Austria: Universität Wien (University of Vienna) – ranked joint 150^th

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 317^th

Belgium: Katholieke Universiteit Leuven – ranked 84^th

Brazil: Universidade de São Paulo (USP) – ranked joint 115^th

Brunei Darussalam: University of Brunei Darussalam – ranked joint 254^th

Bulgaria: Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski” – ranked 601-650^th

Canada: University of Toronto – ranked joint 25^th

Chile: Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile – ranked 121^st

China: Tsinghua University – ranked 15^th

Colombia: Universidad de Los Andes Colombia – ranked joint 227^th

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 498^th

Cyprus: University of Cyprus – ranked joint 477^th

Czech Republic: Charles University – ranked joint 260^th

Denmark: University of Copenhagen – ranked joint 76^th

Ecuador: Universidad de San Francisco de Quito – ranked 751-800

Egypt: American University in Cairo – ranked joint 411^th

Estonia: University of Tartu – ranked 285^th

Finland: University of Helsinki – ranked 104^th

France: Paris Sciences et Lettres Research University (PSL) – ranked 52^nd

Germany: Technische Universität München – ranked 50^th

Georgia: Ivane Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University – ranked 601-650

Greece: National Technical University of Athens – ranked joint 477^th

Hong Kong: University of Hong Kong (HKU) – ranked 22^nd

Hungary: University of Szeged – ranked 501-510

India: Indian Institute of Technology Bombay (IITB) – ranked 172^nd

Indonesia: Universitas Gadjah Mada– ranked joint 254^th

Iran: Sharif University of Technology – ranked joint 409^th

Iraq: University of Baghdad and University of Kufa– both ranked 801-1000

Israel: Hebrew University of Jerusalem – ranked joint 177^th

Italy: Politecnico di Milano – ranked 137^th

Japan: University of Tokyo – ranked 24^th

Jordan: University of Jordan – ranked 601-650

Kazakhstan: Al-Farabi Kazakh National University – ranked 165^th

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 220^th

Lithuania: Vilnius University – ranked joint 423^rd

Macao, S.A.R., China: University of Macau – ranked joint 367^th

Malaysia: Universiti Malaya (UM) – ranked 59^th

Malta: University of Malta (L-Università ta' Malta) – ranked 801-1000

Mexico: Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM) – ranked 100^th

Netherlands: Delft University of Technology – ranked 57^th

New Zealand: University of Auckland – ranked 81^st

Norway: University of Oslo – ranked 113^th

Oman: Sultan Qaboos University – ranked joint 375^th

Pakistan: National University of Sciences and Technology (NUST) – ranked 355^th

Panama: Universidad Tecnológica de Panamá (UTP) – ranked 801-1000

Peru: Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú – ranked joint 432^nd

Philippines: University of the Philippines – ranked joint 396^th

Poland: University of Warsaw – ranked joint 321^st

Portugal: University of Lisbon and University of Porto –ranked joint 357^th

Qatar: Qatar University – ranked 245^th

Republic of Ireland: Trinity College Dublin (TCD) – ranked 101^st

Romania: Babes-Bolyai University and the University of Bucharest – both ranked 801-1000

Russia: Lomonosov Moscow State University – ranked 74^th

Saudi Arabia: King Abdul Aziz University (KAU) – ranked 143^rd

Singapore: National University of Singapore (NUS) – ranked 11^th

Slovakia: Pavol Josef Safarik University – ranked 651-700

Slovenia: University of Ljubljana – ranked 601-650

South Africa: University of Cape Town – ranked joint 220^th

South Korea: Seoul National University (SNU) – ranked 37^th

Spain: Universitat de Barcelona (UB) – ranked 183^rd

Sri Lanka: University of Peradeniya – ranked 801-1000

Sweden: Lund University – ranked 97^th

Taiwan: National Taiwan University (NTU) – ranked joint 66^th

Thailand: Chulalongkorn University – ranked joint 208^th

Turkey: Koç University – ranked joint 465^th

Ukraine: V.N. Karazin Kharkiv National University – ranked joint 477^th

United Arab Emirates: Khalifa University– ranked joint 211^th

Uruguay: Universidad ORT Uruguay – ranked joint 462^nd

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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