Top Universities in the World 2018

Click here to discover the top universities in the world in 2020. 

It’s here. Nearly 1,000 universities from 84 destinations around the world are included in the QS World University Rankings® 2018, providing you with the only resource you need to refer to when deciding which universities to apply to. If you really want to be among the best of the best, these are the ten universities you should attend.

1. Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)

It’s six years in a row at the top for MIT, with the US university continuing to show everyone else how its done. At the heart of its incredible record in our rankings is an extremely strong reputation among both fellow academics and employers, as well as the fact MIT is responsible for an impressive number of academic citations per faculty.

2. Stanford University

There’s no change at number two either, with the Silicon Valley-based Stanford University continuing to hold off the challenge from Harvard. Stanford goes toe-to-toe with MIT in multiple of the indicators used to compile the rankings, but loses ground because of the university’s low international student ratio.

3. Harvard University

Having been second two years ago, Harvard is now cemented in third place in the rankings. The US university can at least take comfort from the fact it’s ranked best in the world for its reputation among academics surveyed for this ranking, a title it retains from previous years.

4. California Institute of Technology (Caltech)

Our first mover and shaker in the top 10 is Caltech, which rises one place from last year. At the heart of this improvement is a particularly good student to faculty ratio and an impressive number of citations produced per faculty.

5. University of Cambridge

Finally! After a clean sweep for the US in the top four, we eventually reach a university from another country. Cambridge was fourth last year so won’t be entirely happy with their slip down the ladder. It’s not all bad news though: the UK university is ranked best in the world for employer reputation and can at least enjoy bragging rights over a certain rival. Speaking of which…

6. University of Oxford

Still in sixth and still behind their arch-rivals Cambridge, the University of Oxford still has some ground to make up if they want to be the best in Britain. It does out-perform Cambridge in its ratio of international students and international faculty though, so maybe they can brag about that for the next year?

7. UCL (University College London)

Three UK universities in a row and it’s another non-mover from last year, suggesting fears British universities would suffer because of Brexit may have been overblown (for now). UCL has one of the most internationally diverse student bodies in the world.

8. Imperial College London

Climbing up the rankings one place is another London university, Imperial. The university is particularly well-regarded for its scientific and technical teaching, as well as its business school.

9. University of Chicago

It’s back to the US for ninth-placed University of Chicago, an improvement of one place from last year’s ranking. The university enjoys a particularly strong score for its reputation among academics.

10. ETH Zurich (Swiss Federal Institute of Technology)

The UK-US duopoly is finally broken by the Swiss, and 10^th-placed ETH Zurich. The university has fallen two places since last year and is let down by a poor student to faculty ratio, but out-performs at least one of the universities above it in every other category.

Top universities in the world by location

Obviously, the above top ten isn’t much use if studying in the UK, US or Switzerland either doesn’t interest you or isn’t practical. Fortunately for you, we’ve also rounded up the best university from each of the other 81 locations included in this year’s ranking. Find a top university near to you in the list below.

Argentina: Universidad de Buenos Aires – ranked 75^th

Australia: Australian National University (ANU) – ranked 20^th

Austria: Universität Wien – ranked 154^th

Azerbaijan: Khazar University – ranked 701-750

Bahrain: Arabian Gulf University – ranked 411-420

Bangladesh: University of Dhaka – ranked 701-750

Belarus: Belarus State University – ranked joint 334^th

Belgium: Katholieke Universiteit Leuven – ranked joint 71^st

Brazil: Universidade de São Paulo (USP) – ranked 121^st

Brunei Darussalam: University of Brunei Darussalam – ranked joint 349^th

Bulgaria: Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski” – ranked 701-750

Canada: University of Toronto – ranked 31^st

Chile: Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile – ranked joint 137^th

China: Tsinghua University – ranked 25^th

Colombia: Universidad Nacional de Colombia – ranked joint 254^th

Costa Rica: Universidad de Costa Rica – ranked 411-420

Croatia: University of Zagreb – ranked 601-650

Cuba: Universidad de la Habana – ranked 601-650

Czech Republic: Charles University – ranked joint 314^th

Denmark: University of Copenhagen – ranked joint 73^rd

Ecuador: Universidad de San Francisco de Quito – ranked 701-750

Egypt: American University in Cairo – ranked joint 395^th

Estonia: University of Tartu – ranked joint 314^th

Finland: University of Helsinki – ranked joint 102^nd

France: Ecole Normale Supérieure, Paris (ENS Paris) – ranked 43^rd

Germany: Technische Universität München – ranked 64^th

Ghana: University of Ghana – ranked 801-1000

Greece: National Technical University of Athens – ranked 401-410

Hong Kong: University of Hong Kong (HKU) – ranked 26^th

Hungary: University of Szeged – ranked 501-550

India: Indian Institute of Technology Delhi (IITD) – ranked 172^nd

Indonesia: University of Indonesia – ranked joint 277^th

Iran: Sharif University of Technology – ranked 471-480

Iraq: University of Baghdad – ranked 501-550

Israel: Hebrew University of Jerusalem – ranked 145^th

Italy: Politecnico di Milano – ranked 170^th

Japan: University of Tokyo – ranked joint 28^th

Jordan: University of Jordan – ranked 551-600

Kazakhstan: Al-Farabi Kazakh National University – ranked joint 236^th

Kenya: University of Nairobi – ranked 801-1000

Kuwait: Kuwait University – ranked 651-700

Latvia: Riga Technical University – ranked 651-700

Lebanon: American University of Beirut (AUB) – ranked 235^th

Lithuania: Vilnius University – ranked 401-410

Macao, S.A.R., China: University of Macau – ranked 501-550

Malaysia: Universiti Malaya (UM) – ranked joint 114^th

Mexico: Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM) – ranked joint 122^nd

Morocco: Université Mohammed V de Rabat – ranked 801-1000

Netherlands: Delft University of Technology – ranked 54^th

New Zealand: University of Auckland – ranked joint 82^nd

Norway: University of Oslo – ranked joint 142^nd

Oman: Sultan Qaboos University – ranked 451-460

Pakistan: National University of Sciences and Technology (NUST) Islamabad – ranked 431-440

Palestine: Birzeit University – ranked 801-1000

Peru: Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú – ranked 431-440

Philippines: University of the Philippines – ranked joint 367^th

Poland: University of Warsaw – ranked 411-420

Portugal: University of Porto – ranked joint 301^st

Puerto Rico: Universidad de Puerto Rico – ranked 801-1000

Qatar: Qatar University – ranked joint 349^th

Republic of Ireland: Trinity College Dublin (TCD) – ranked 88^th

Romania: University of Bucharest – ranked 701-750

Russia: Lomonosov Moscow State University – ranked joint 95^th

Saudi Arabia: King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals (KFUPM) – ranked joint 173^rd

Serbia: University of Belgrade – ranked 801-1000

Singapore: Nanyang Technological University (NTU) – ranked 11^th

Slovakia: Comenius University in Bratislava – ranked 701-750

Slovenia: University of Ljubljana – ranked 651-700

South Africa: University of Cape Town – ranked 191^st

South Korea: Seoul National University (SNU) – ranked joint 36^th

Spain: Universitat de Barcelona (UB) – ranked 156^th

Sri Lanka: University of Colombo – ranked 751-800

Sweden: Lund University – ranked joint 78th

Taiwan: National Taiwan University (NTU) – ranked joint 76^th

Thailand: Culalongkorn University – ranked joint 245^th

Turkey: Bilkent University – ranked 421-430

Uganda: Makerere University – ranked 801-1000

Ukraine: V.N. Karazin Kharkiv National University – ranked 401-410

United Arab Emirates: United Arab Emirates University – ranked 390^th

Uruguay: Universidad de Montevideo – ranked 501-550

Venezuela: Universidad Católica Andrés Bello (UCAB) and Universidad Central de Venezuela (UCV) – both ranked 651-700