The world’s top universities for 2025 have been revealed. Europe claims 2 of the top 3 spots

The best universities in the world were revealed in the 21st edition of the QS World University Rankings.

The list is once again headed by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), which is located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in the USA, and has led the ranking for 13 consecutive years.

The next two universities were located in the UK and are Imperial College London, which moved up from 6th position to secure second place, and the University of Oxford, in third.

Harvard University came in fourth place again this year with a score of 96.8, closely followed by the University of Cambridge which rounded out the top five with a score of 96.7.

This year’s annual assessment is the largest ever, including more than 1,500 universities.

It was based on the analysis of millions of academic articles and expert opinions.

Metrics used for ranking included academic and employer reputation, faculty-student ratio, citations per faculty, international faculty ratio, international student ratio, international research network, employment outcomes, and sustainability.

Here is a summary of this year’s top 10 universities based on their scores on the ranking indicators.

While the United States was the most represented country this year, with 197 institutions ranked and some of the highest rankings, Europe achieved some comparable success. European institutions, mainly in the United Kingdom, occupied half of the top 10 positions.

The UK had the second highest number of universities in the rankings, with four of them in the top 10.

Best Universities in Europe

Based on the rankings, some of the best universities in Europe in 2025 include Imperial College of London (98.5) and the University of Oxford (96.9), both in the top three globally.

The University of Cambridge (96.7), ETH Zurich (93.9) and University College London (91.6) were next among European institutions.

After the UK, Switzerland secured the most places in Europe’s top 10, represented by ETH Zurich, ranked seventh worldwide, and École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL).

France and Germany also featured in the continent’s top 10, with Université PSL and the Technical University of Munich respectively.

Honorable Mentions

Internationally, after the US and the UK, mainland China has the highest number of universities included in the list, with 71 universities in the country.

Two Chinese universities, Peking University and Tsinghua University, are in the top 20, with scores of 88.5 and 86.5 respectively.

Singaporean universities also topped the list, with the National University of Singapore (NUS) making the top 10 and Nanyang Technological University, Singapore (NTU) ranked 14th in the world.