Top Universities in the World 2019

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

The QS World University Rankings® 2019 is out now, showcasing 1,000 of the world’s best universities in 85 countries, based on a methodology which assesses each university on six metrics, including its reputation among academics and employers.

Read on as we count down to discover this year’s top 10 or watch the video below.

10. UCL (University College London)

Down three spots but nonetheless included among the 10 best universities in the world, the UK’s UCL earns its best score in the academic reputation indicator, and also achieves a strong score for its proportion of international students, making it a diverse place to study.

9. University of Chicago

The US’ University of Chicago retains its position of ninth in the world in 2019, with a particularly high score for its reputation among academics.

8. Imperial College London

Imperial is ranked eighth in the world this year and is now London’s highest-ranked university. Like UCL, it boasts an excellent score for the international students indicator, meaning you’ll be in good company if you study at either university as an international student.

7. ETH Zurich (Swiss Federal Institute of Technology)

Switzerland’s ETH Zurich is the highest-ranked university in continental Europe and climbed three places in this year’s ranking, with its best score for citations per faculty member, a measure of research impact.

6. University of Cambridge

The University of Cambridge slips one place in this year’s ranking but does achieve higher scores than rival Oxford for its reputations among academics and employers, ranked second in the world for both after Harvard.

5. University of Oxford

The 2019 results see Oxford overtake Cambridge in our list of the world's best universities, climbing one place to rank fifth in the world and first out of the UK’s 76 entries, with top-10 scores for its academic and employer reputations as well as its faculty/student ratio.

4. California Institute of Technology (Caltech)

The smallest university in the top 10, Caltech retains its position of fourth in the world this year. Students benefit from an excellent student/faculty ratio, and Caltech also beats rival MIT in the citations per faculty member indicator, for which it’s ranked fifth in the world.

3. Harvard University

Harvard continues to rank third in the world as of the 2019 results but remains first in the world for both employer and academic reputation.

2. Stanford University

Also retaining its position from last year is Stanford, which achieves its best scores for its reputation among academics and employers (fifth for both).

1. Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)

And finally, MIT appears to be unbeatable as the world’s highest-ranked university, holding on to the top spot for a record seventh year in a row this year. MIT also gets its highest scores for its reputations with academics and employers, at third and fourth respectively.

Best universities in the world by location

Looking beyond the UK, US and Switzerland, see below to find out the top university in each of the other 82 countries included in the ranking.

Argentina: Universidad de Buenos Aires – ranked 73^rd in the world

Australia: Australian National University (ANU) – ranked 24^th

Austria: Universität Wien (University of Vienna) – ranked joint 175^th

Azerbaijan: Baku State University – ranked 801-1000

Bahrain: University of Bahrain – ranked 801-1000

Bangladesh: Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology and the University of Dhaka – both ranked 801-1000

Belarus: Belarus State University – ranked 354^th

Belgium: Katholieke Universiteit Leuven – ranked 81^st

Bosnia and Herzegovina: Sarajevo School of Science and Technology – ranked 571-580

Brazil: Universidade de São Paulo (USP) – ranked 118^th

Brunei Darussalam: University of Brunei Darussalam – ranked joint 323^rd

Bulgaria: Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski” – ranked 801-1000

Canada: University of Toronto – ranked 28^th

Chile: Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile – ranked joint 132^nd

China: Tsinghua University – ranked 17^th

Colombia: Universidad de Los Andes Colombia – ranked joint 272^nd

Costa Rica: Universidad de Costa Rica – ranked 501-510

Croatia: University of Zagreb – ranked 801-1000

Cuba: Universidad de la Habana – ranked 511-520

Czech Republic: Charles University – ranked joint 317^th

Denmark: University of Copenhagen – ranked joint 79^th

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

Egypt: American University in Cairo – ranked joint 420^th

Estonia: University of Tartu – ranked joint 321^st

Finland: University of Helsinki – ranked 110^th

France: Paris Sciences et Lettres Research University (PSL) – ranked 50^th

Germany: Technische Universität München – ranked 61^st

Greece: National Technical University of Athens – ranked joint 446^th

Hong Kong: University of Hong Kong (HKU) – ranked 25^th

Hungary: University of Szeged – ranked joint 470^th

India: Indian Institute of Technology Bombay (IITB) – ranked 162^nd

Indonesia: University of Indonesia – ranked joint 292^nd

Iran: Sharif University of Technology – ranked 432^nd

Iraq: University of Baghdad – ranked 651-700

Israel: Hebrew University of Jerusalem – ranked 154^th

Italy: Politecnico di Milano – ranked joint 156^th

Japan: University of Tokyo – ranked 23^rd

Jordan: University of Jordan – ranked 601-650

Kazakhstan: Al-Farabi Kazakh National University – ranked 220^th

Kenya: University of Nairobi – ranked 801-1000

Kuwait: Kuwait University – ranked 801-1000

Latvia: Riga Technical University – ranked 751-800

Lebanon: American University of Beirut (AUB) – ranked joint 237^th

Lithuania: Vilnius University – ranked 488^th

Macao, S.A.R., China: University of Macau – ranked joint 443^rd

Malaysia: Universiti Malaya (UM) – ranked joint 87^th

Mexico: Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM) – ranked 113^th

Morocco: Al Akhawayn University Ifrane – ranked 801-1000

Netherlands: Delft University of Technology – ranked 52^nd

New Zealand: University of Auckland – ranked 85^th

Norway: University of Oslo – ranked 135^th

Oman: Sultan Qaboos University – ranked joint 450^th

Pakistan: Pakistan Institute of Engineering and Applied Sciences (PIEAS) – ranked joint 397^th

Palestine: Birzeit University – ranked 801-1000

Peru: Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú – ranked 551-560

Philippines: University of the Philippines – ranked joint 384^th

Poland: University of Warsaw – ranked joint 394^th

Portugal: University of Porto – ranked 328^th

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

Qatar: Qatar University – ranked joint 332^nd

Republic of Ireland: Trinity College Dublin (TCD) – ranked joint 104^th

Romania: Has five universities all ranked 801-1000, including Alexandru Ioan Cuza University

Russia: Lomonosov Moscow State University – ranked 90^th

Saudi Arabia: King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals (KFUPM) – ranked 189^th

Serbia: University of Belgrade – ranked 801-1000

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

Slovakia: Comenius University in Bratislava and Slovak University of Technology in Bratislava – both ranked 751-800

Slovenia: University of Ljubljana – ranked 651-700

South Africa: University of Cape Town – ranked joint 200^th

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

Spain: Universidad Autónoma de Madrid – ranked 159^th

Sri Lanka: University of Colombo – ranked 801-1000

Sweden: Lund University – ranked 92^nd

Taiwan: National Taiwan University (NTU) – ranked 72^nd

Thailand: Culalongkorn University – ranked 271^st

Turkey: Koç University – ranked joint 448^th

Ukraine: V.N. Karazin Kharkiv National University – ranked joint 481^st

United Arab Emirates: Khalifa University– ranked 315^th

Uruguay: Universidad de Montevideo – ranked 531-540

Venezuela: Universidad Central de Venezuela (UCV) – ranked 751-800

Vietnam: Vietnam National University - Ho Chi Minh City (VNU-HCM) – ranked 701-750