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university Of oxford has secured the top position in the Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2026, an unprecedented performance for the tenth consecutive year. UK Institutions.
University also seen in prestigious list Cambridge Whereas, from fifth to joint third place in 2025 Imperial College London Moved up one place to eighth position.
In total, 11 UK universities Included in global top 10.
The rankings, compiled annually since 2004, analyze data from approximately 19 million research papers, 1.5 million survey votes and more than 30,000 universities.
Factors include teaching and research reputation, strengths, and various income streams. Of the 2,191 institutions ranked globally, 109 were from the UK.
Thirteen improved their status, 64 retained their 2025 status and 28 saw a decline.
This is the first year since 2016 that the UK has fewer than 50 universities making the top 500, although it is just below that at 49.
THE said the UK is joint fourth in terms of the most represented country in the ranking United States of AmericaIndia and Japan.
THE said the UK had performed well in improving its teaching reputation and research excellence, but saw a decline in research strength scores and a rise in the student-staff ratio from 16.8 to 20.5 students per teacher.
These ratio figures “predate the latest developments in the UK higher education funding crisis, but the ratio is only likely to worsen as job cuts continue and institutions’ resources are diverted”, THE said.
The University of Leeds saw its best year ever as it rose from 123rd to 118th, while the University of Liverpool rose from joint 160th to 143rd.
City St George’s and the University of London, which merged last year, are among the top three new mergers to join the rankings, and remain in the 351-400 range.
On the other hand, both the London School of Economics (LSE) and Political Science and the University of Warwick saw their worst performance in these rankings. The former fell out of the top 50 to 52nd place, and the latter dropped from 106th to joint 122nd.
The Times and The Sunday Times Good Universities Guide 2026 in September ranked the London School of Economics and Political Science first in the country for the second year in a row.
A spokesperson for the LSE said that universities like it which specialize in the social sciences are disadvantaged by the methodology of some rankings if they favor “comprehensive institutions with science, engineering and medical faculties”.
Phil Batty, THE Chief Global Affairs Officer, said: “This year’s rankings highlight a dramatic and rapidly growing trend – a shift in the balance of power in research and higher education excellence from the long-established, leading institutions of the West towards the rising stars of the East.
“The US and most parts of Western Europe have suffered significant losses in the world rankings, while East Asian countries, led by China, have continued to rise and move up the table.
“This clear trend will continue as research funding and international talent attraction in the West is disrupted.”
Apart from the three UK institutions, the rest of THE’s global top 10 consists entirely of US universities, with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in second place and Princeton University of Cambridge joint in third place. America also dominates the top 30.
Elsewhere in the world, Ireland’s top-ranked university – Trinity College Dublin – has fallen from 139th to 173rd, its worst ever performance.
A spokesperson for Trinity College Dublin said that the university remains the top-ranked Irish university in this ranking and others and that “fluctuations can be expected” as the list of universities included in the rankings grows each year.
He added, “It is important to note that the methodologies differ and in the recent 2026 QS World University Rankings, Trinity has improved its position to 75th in the world.”
China’s universities ranked 12th and 13th, the National University of Singapore was ranked 17th, and the University of Tokyo moved up two places to 26th.