World University Rankings 2021

The Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2021 include more than 1,500 universities across 93 countries and regions, making them the largest and most diverse university rankings to date.

The table is based on 13 carefully calibrated performance indicators that measure an institution’s performance across four areas: teaching, research, knowledge transfer and international outlook.

This year’s ranking analysed more than 80 million citations across over 13 million research publications and included survey responses from 22,000 scholars globally.

Trusted worldwide by students, teachers, governments and industry experts, this year’s league table provides great insight into the shifting balance of power in global higher education.

View the World University Rankings 2021 methodology

The University of Oxford tops the rankings for the fifth consecutive year, while mainland China’s Tsinghua University becomes the first Asian university to break into the top 20 under the current methodology (launched in 2011).

The US claims a record eight places in the top 10, after the University of California, Berkeley climbed six places to seventh, but US universities outside the top 200 show signs of decline.

Meanwhile, there are 141 first-time entrants in the rankings this year, topped by France’s recently merged Paris-Saclay University (joint 178^th). India has the highest number of new entries (14) and as a result boasts a record number of ranked institutions (63).

Read our analysis of the THE World University Rankings 2021 results

Download a free copy of the World University Rankings 2021 digital supplement

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