The University of Oxford has once again been crowned the best university in the world, securing the top spot for an unprecedented tenth year in the newly released Times Higher Education
World University Rankings 2026.
Oxford leads a strong showing for the UK, with three institutions placed in the global top 10. The University of Cambridge climbed to joint third, rising from fifth place last year, while Imperial College London moved up one position to eighth.
In total, 11 UK universities were ranked among the world’s top 100.
The Times Higher Education rankings, published annually since 2004, draw on the analysis of nearly 19 million research papers, 1.5 million survey responses, and data from more than 30,000 universities worldwide. This year, 109 UK institutions were assessed out of 2,191 in the global table.
Of those, 13 improved their positions, 64 held steady, and 28 saw a decline compared with 2025. Photo by Kaofenlio, Wikimedia commons.