Top 100 Universities in The World in 2023

The exact number of universities in existence is hard to measure, but even with a conservative estimate it’s safe to say there are at least 25,000 universities across the world. This means that making it to the global top 100 list of universities is a huge achievement. Every university in this list is a top-class institution, and when you’re looking for a university to spend your student years in, this list is a great place to start.

League tables rank universities on a wide variety of factors. This list from the QS World University Rankings is based on assessment of six criteria: academic reputation, employer reputation, faculty/student ratio, citations per faculty, international student ratio and international faculty ratio.

For several years in a row now, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology near Boston has been named the best university in the world. The Anglo-American world dominated the top of the list, with nine out of the top ten universities in the list being either in the USA or the United Kingdom, with only ETH Zurich in Switzerland being able to squeeze into the top 10 from outside of these two countries. The cities with the most universities in the list are Hong Kong (5) and London (4).

If you want to know what are the best universities in the world for different subjects, check out this post.

Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is the best university in the world
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) claimed the top spot in the ranking.

1. Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), USA

The perennial number 1 on this list, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in the Boston metropolitan area. MIT is especially well-known for its strong programs in fields such as engineering and computer science, but it is also among the world’s best universities in areas like linguistics and accounting.

2. University of Cambridge, UK

Second in the world and the best university in Europe, the University of Cambridge offers the highest quality of education in a wide range of subjects, being among the best universities in the world in fields such as arts & humanities, engineering and history.

3. Stanford University, USA

Leland Stanford Junior University, or just Stanford University for short, is located in the San Francisco Bay Area in California. Being among the best universities in the world in many disciplines, the university is affectionately nicknamed Nerd Nation. Stanford also excels in sports though: as of 2022 Stanford has won more NCAA national championships in team sports than any other university and it tops the list of Olympic gold medals won by students and alumni among American universities, at 153 (tied with the University of Southern California).

4. University of Oxford, UK

The oldest university on this list, the University of Oxford is the second-oldest university in the world in continuous operation and the oldest in the English-speaking world. Oxford is the home of the world-famous Rhodes Scholarship and the Oxford University Press, the largest university press in the world.

5. Harvard University, USA

Funnily enough, of the five best universities in the world, three are located in a city named Cambridge. Like MIT, Harvard is located in Cambridge, Massachusetts near Boston. Part of the prestigious Ivy League, Harvard is the oldest university in the United States.

=6. California Institute of Technology (Caltech), USA

Caltech is especially well known for its programs in the natural sciences, and for being the university where the main characters in the sitcom The Big Bang Theory work.

=6. Imperial College London, UK

The highest-rated of the four London universities on this list, Imperial focuses on science, technology, business and medicine.

8. University College London (UCL), UK

University College London offers world-class education in a great location, with the university’s campus being in Bloomsbury in central London.

9. ETH Zurich, Switzerland

ETH Zurich is the only university in the top 10 from outside the USA and the UK. It has particularly strong programs in science and technology.

10. University of Chicago, USA

The University of Chicago has been historically so notable in many different fields that there are established “Chicago Schools” in at least architecture, economics, literary criticism, mathematical analysis and sociology. It was also where the world’s first man-made, self-sustaining nuclear reaction was produced.

Old buildings at the University of Chicago
University of Chicago is the 10th best university in the world in 2023.

11. National University of Singapore (NUS), Singapore

12. Peking University, China

13. University of Pennsylvania, USA

14. Tsinghua University, China

15. The University of Edinburgh, UK

=16. École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Switzerland

=16. Princeton University, USA

18. Yale University, USA

19. Nanyang Technological University (NTU), Singapore

20. Cornell University, USA

King's College London
King’s College London is one of the four universities in London to make this list.

21. The University of Hong Kong, China

22. Columbia University, USA

23. University of Tokyo, Japan

24. Johns Hopkins University, USA

25. University of Michigan, USA

26. Université PSL, France

27. University of California, Berkeley, USA

28. University of Manchester, UK

29. Seoul National University, South Korea

30. Australian National University, Australia

Hong Kong University of Science and Technology campus
A sculpture outside the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology

31. McGill University, Canada

32. Northwestern University, USA

33. The University of Melbourne, Australia

=34. Fudan University, China

=34. University of Toronto, USA

36. Kyoto University, Japan

37. King’s College London, UK

38. The Chinese University of Hong Kong, China

39. New York University (NUY), USA

40. The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, China

The city of Melbourne in Australia
Melbourne in Australia is the home of two universities on this list.

41. The University of Sydney, Australia

=42. Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), South Korea

=42. Zhejian University, China

44. University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), USA

45. The University of New South Wales (UNSW Sydney), Australia

46. Shanghai Jiao Tong University, China

47. University of British Columbia, Canada

48. Institut Polytechnique de Paris, France

49. Technical University of Munich, Germany

=50. Duke University, USA

=50. The University of Queensland, Australia

A building in The Chinese University of Hong Kong campus
This futuristic building is in the campus of The Chinese University of Hong Kong.

52. Carnegie Mellon University, USA

53. University of California, San Diego, USA

54. City University of Hong Kong, China

55. Tokyo Institute of Technology, Japan

56. The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), UK

57. Monash University, Australia

58. University of Amsterdam, Netherlands

59. Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, Germany

60. Sorbonne University, France

A historic building in the University of Glasgow
This historic building with the beautiful arches is part of the University of Glasgow.

=61. Delft University of Technology, Netherlands

=61. University of Bristol, UK

63. Brown University, USA

64. The University of Warwick, UK

=65. Heidelberg University, Germany

=65. The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, China

67. University of Buenos Aires, Argentina

68. Osaka University, Japan

69. Paris-Saclay University

70. University of Malaya

Lund University in Sweden
This ivy-covered building belongs to Lund University.

71. Pohang University of Science and Technology (POSTECH), South Korea

72. University of Texas at Austin, USA

73. Yonsei University, South Korea

74. Korea University, South Korea

75. Lomonosov Moscow State University, Russia

76. KU Leuven, Netherlands

77. National Taiwan University, Taiwan

78. University of Southampton, UK

79. Tohoku University, Japan

80. University of Washington, USA

University of Auckland in New Zealand
The University of Auckland is the highest-rated university in New Zealand.

81. University of Glasgow, UK

82. University of Copenhagen, Denmark

=83. University of Wisconsin-Madison, USA

=83. University of Zurich, Switzerland

85. University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, USA

86. University of Leeds, UK

87. The University of Auckland, New Zealand

88. Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech), USA

89. KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Sweden

90. The University of Western Australia, Australia

Durham Castle and University
Durham Castles houses Durham University’s University College.

91. University of Birmingham, UK

92. Durham University, UK

93. Pennsylvania State University (Penn State), USA

94. University of Science and Technology of China, China

95. Lund University, Sweden

=96. The University of Sheffield, UK

=96. University of St Andrews, UK

98. Trinity College Dublin, Ireland

99. Sungkyunkwan University, South Korea

100. Rice University, USA

Stanford University Main Quad
A view of the Main Quad at Stanford University, the 3rd best university in the world.

The two dominant forces in the list are the Anglo-American countries and East Asia. More than a quarter (27) of the universities in the top 100 are in the United States, with the USA also claiming five of the top 10 spots. The United Kingdom has 17 universities in the list. In East Asia, China topped the list with 11 universities (including five in Hong Kong), with South Korea having six and Japan five.

The rise of East Asia could be even more noticeable with some more internationalism. The ranking criteria where many East Asian universities are lacking are international student ratio and international faculty ratio. QS states of these criteria: “A highly international university … demonstrates the ability to attract quality students and staff from across the world, and it implies a highly global outlook. Strong international institutions provide a multinational environment, building international sympathies and global awareness.” This is something where the universities of the English-speaking world still seem to have a noticeable advantage over the East Asian ones.

If you are interested in studying in one of the best universities in the world, you’ll need to find yourself some student accommodation. For this, you’ve come to the right place. Student.com is the world’s largest student accommodation website, listing over one million beds in over 400 cities around the world.

    58 Responses

    1. which university study best agricultural courses .and is there any scholarship for African countries and how do i apply.

    2. I sincerely want to thank your organization for the great work you are doing. I have been greatly informed by your various views/writings.
      I am a dedicated, focus, determine, vision-driven and God fearing young man who against all odds, rose from been a mechanic apprentice to a lawyer. I am interested in human rights/international law in relation to the rights of children, women and the poor. I need a scholarship /student loan to study for my LL.M . I would appreciate any help, information, link and advice from your organization or any other group. Thank you.
      Isaac Mathew Thank-God Esq. Phone line: +2348037265414

    3. Why is Nigerian Universities not among the top 100 universities ranked? Does it mean they don’t have the where-withall to be ranked?

    4. Nice compilation here Miss JESS. Another thing is, this schools are freaking expensive. Though, I believe someone has to pay for the standards he gets. A post on the average school fee of these schools would be very helpful.

    5. Nice one. This is a wake up call to all the universities in African continent as non is found therein.

    6. Could you please help me out? I need a University that offers MSc Medical Physics( Radiation Physics, BioMedical Physics) or related course with a cheap tuition fee

    7. good compilation Jess
      please I need an information on the best, cheap or free universities where west Africans especially Nigerians would study

    8. I want to enter one of the top university, l have bphil degree in univerwity of rome and BA in university in imo state university in nigeria,

    9. i am graduated from Ethiopia civil service university in degree with public management so i want to make master in business administration,development economic s or financial accounting. so in the above mentioned earlier if i have get chance i am okay.

    10. Wow that is very nice. but i wonder why my country is not included. and i pray next coming list one university from my country should also mention.
      how wish i has money i will also like to study in abroad. but i don’t has money.

    11. please..can u list some universities n polythecnics wia i can do my masters..in we
      lding and fabrication technology…in middle east and european countries

    12. No Nigeria university, not even university from Africa. What are the yardsticks for this ranking? I want to know. Again how can one apply? Thanks for this nifty job, more grace.

    13. Am a graduate of FUTMINNA, you’ve done a nice job. Please do you have an idea concerning the tuition fee of Massachusette Institute of Technology for their MSc programme?

    14. Global development Update in Education. Which of them offer post graduate studies in Maritime, I obtained PGD in Maritime Environmental Health and Safety in Nigeria.
      please help.

    15. I would like to know the rating of Australian National University MBA program? How is the degree valued worldwide??

    16. My partner and I came here different page and thought I may as well check things out. I like what I see so now i’m following you. Look forward to going over your web page for a second time.

    17. In your own thinking, wich university deserve to appear on the top 100 university’s in the world??

    18. I m really have interest to do my LLM abroad in the later date but the problem is weather or not scholarship is gear to the law students ?pls if there is give me the criteria and procedure, thanks

    19. No Nigerian university can be rated among the top 100 for now… I study in USA and know what I’m talking about… I doubt it if any Nigeria university can even be rated among top 500! It’s funny but I’m not joking…

    20. hello i am Cyril from Nigeria,i want to do my masters degree in oxford university,please how do i go about it…what are the procedure?

    21. Why don’t you apply to your school of choice first. You need to know if you are going to be qualified first before you start seeking for assistance. As a lawyer that you’ve claimed, you should not be spoiling our reputation again!!!!.

    22. Proud to be be an alumni of Uniiversity of Leeds. It’s an amazing place with great experts who knows their jobs. Well done UNILEEDS

    23. Really intriguing. How can a whole continent (Africa) not produce at least one out of the top 100 Universities of the world? God help Africa!

    24. i really appreciate all the above mentioned universities, and i will like to study abroad. praudly danfodite. up UDUS sokoto

    25. thanks for a Job well done. have always had dis burning passion in me to further my education i ve National Diploma in Accounting and would love to further in any of the above institution listed above..pls how do i go about it?

    26. I have B.Sc in pharmacology, but i realy want to do pharmacy purely, which of these Universities can i find my entry easy and how do i go about it?

    27. there must be an error in this ranking.
      Africa has got good universities that can compete in the top 50

    28. I wish to study in any technology school,for Architecture any help pls line to call 08102042435
      pls for God sake

    29. As regards to someone asking about the best agricultural university. .. I recommend University of Groningen, Cornell university and Purdue University are considered as the most highly reputable universities as far as agriculture is concerned.

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