Top Universities for Natural Sciences

The recently released QS World University Rankings by Subject features 520 of the top higher education institutions to study natural sciences. 

This year, the subject rankings are based on five indicators: academic and employer reputation, citations per paper, H-index citations (a way of measuring the productivity and published work of a scientist or scholar) and international research network. Learn more about the methodology behind the subject rankings. 

Read on as we discover the top universities in each region to study natural sciences. Alternatively, see the full list of universities in the natural sciences rankings.

QS World University Rankings by Subject – Top universities for natural sciences
Rank	University	Location
1	Harvard University	United States
2	Massachusetts Institute of Technology - MIT	United States
3	University of Cambridge	United Kingdom
4	Stanford University	United States
5	University of Oxford	United Kingdom
6	California Institute of Technology	United States
7	University of California Berkeley	United States
8	ETH Zurich	Switzerland
9	Imperial College London	United Kingdom
10	Princeton University	United States

Top universities for natural sciences in the US & Canada 

The United States is home to 96 of the world’s top universities for natural science, with six universities in the global top 10. This includes the highest-ranked university in the world for this field, Massachusetts Institute of Technology. MIT’s courses have a strong focus on experimental design and data evaluation, with all students participating in laboratory research. 

Outside the top 10, other strong US universities for natural sciences include University of Chicago (12th), University of California Los Angeles (14th) and Yale University (20th). 

Heading north, another 20 top natural sciences schools are found in Canada. These include three institutions in the global top 50: University of British Columbia (17th), University of Toronto (23rd) and McGill University (41st). There is one new Canadian entry this year: University of Manitoba (451-500). 

Top universities for natural sciences in Europe 

This year Europe has 230 universities offering courses in the natural sciences. The highest performing university in Europe is the UK’s Cambridge University in fourth. The flexibility of the University of Cambridge’s natural sciences courses make it possible to tailor your studies to your interests. 

The UK has 38 representatives in the natural sciences rankings in total, including three in the top 10. Outside of the top 10, six more universities feature in the top 100, including The University of Manchester (35th), The University of Edinburgh (=36th) and UCL (=36th). 

Germany performs well in the natural sciences rankings, with 35 schools featured among the world’s best in this subject area. Seven of these are in the global top 100. The best natural sciences courses in Germany arefound at Technical University of Munich (28th). The university’s interdisciplinary research includes topics from the fields of living environments, agriculture and forestry, food and nutrition as well as molecular health. 

Italy is home to 21 of the world’s top universities for natural sciences, with two schools featuring in the top 100: Sapienza University of Rome (44th) and Alma Mater Studiorum – University of Bologna (88th). 

France has 22 entries in the ranking, with four universities in the global top 50: Sorbonne University (13th), Université PSL (14th), Université Paris-Saclay (19th) and Institut Polytechnique de Paris (26th). 

Spain also performs well with 12 entrants this year, including Universidad de Barcelona (65th). Meanwhile, The Netherlands’ 10 representatives are led by Delft University of Technology (56th). 

Neighbouring Belgium has seven top natural science schools. Switzerland also has seven including ETH Zurich in the top 10 and EPFL (16th). Another country with seven entries in this year’s subject rankings is Sweden. It’s top-ranked university, Stockholm University (74th) is the only one ranked within the global top 100. 

Austria and Czechia both have four top natural sciences schools with Austria’s University of Vienna (113th) ranked highest followed by Czechia’s Charles University (161st). Portugal and Finland both have six entries, with the University of Lisbon (146th) and University of Helinski (150th) ranked the highest in their respective countries. 

Hungary and Ireland both have four top natural sciences universities with Trinity College Dublin (197th) ranked highest. Denmark and Norway both have three. 

Top universities for natural sciences in Asia 

Asia is home to 119 schools for natural sciences this year. 

Mainland China is home to the most top natural sciences schools of any Asian country, with 30 representatives, including three in the top 50: Peking University (18th), Tsinghua University (20th) and University of Science and Technology of China (50th). 

South Korea has an impressive 16 schools offering top natural sciences programmes, with two top 100 entries: Seoul National University (36th) and Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (61st). 

Japan claims 14 top universities in the natural sciences rankings. Highly ranked Japanese universities for this subject area include The University of Tokyo (11th), Kyoto University (27th) and Tokyo Institute of Technology (46th). 

India has 10 representatives in the natural sciences rankings, led by Indian Institute of Science (120th). 

Hong Kong SAR and Malaysia each have five top universities for natural sciences, while Taiwan has six. Hong Kong’s The University of Hong Kong and Taiwan’s National Taiwan University both ranked 81st. 

Singapore may only have two entries, but both are in the top 50: National University of Singapore (43rd) and Nanyang Technological University (46th).  

Lastly, Thailand and Vietnam also feature in the natural sciences rankings with two representatives each. Thailand’s Chulalongkorn University (265th) and Vietnam’s Duy Tan University (451-500) ranked highest. 

Top universities for natural sciences in the Middle East

In the Middle East, Saudi Arabia is represented by four of the world’s top universities for natural sciences, the best of which is King Abdulaziz University (99th). 

Turkey has eight top natural sciences universities. Middle East Technical University (235th) is the only one which ranked within the top 250 with an impressive score in H-index citations. 

Pakistan has three universities in the rankings with Quaid-i-Azam University (346th) ranked the highest in the country. The United Arab Emirates and Qatar both have one university entry each: United Arab Emirates University (501-520) and Qatar University (451-500) respectively. 

Top universities for natural sciences in Australia & New Zealand 

Australia is home to 20 of the world’s top universities for natural sciences, five of which are in the global top 100. The three highest-ranked Australian universities for this subject area are: Australian National University (29th), The University of Melbourne (46th) and The University of Sydney (70th). 

In nearby New Zealand, five more top natural sciences universities are found, including the country’s top-ranked university The University of Auckland (160th). 

Top universities for natural sciences in Latin America 

Of the 22 Latin American institutions featured in the rankings, nine are in Brazil with Universidade de São Paulo ranked the highest in the country at 52nd. 

Mexico has three universities in the rankings and Argentina has two. The highest ranked of these is Mexico’s Universidad Nacional Autónoma de Mexico (53rd). This is closely followed by Argentina’s Universidad de Buenos Aires (123rd).  

Meanwhile, Chile has six universities featured this year, with Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile ranked 107th for natural sciences. Another Latin American country to feature in the natural sciences rankings is Colombia with two representatives: Universidad Nacional de Colombia (280th) and Universidad de los Andes (302nd). 

Top universities for natural sciences in Africa & the Middle East 

South Africa is home to six top natural sciences schools, led by The University of Cape Town (215th). Egypt is also represented with Cairo University (272nd) ranked the highest in the country.