Education

Ranked: The World’s Top Universities Outside of the U.S.

Published

1 month ago

May 4, 2025

Pallavi Rao

Graphics/Design:

Miranda Smith

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Ranked: Top Universities Outside the U.S.

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Key Takeaways

Outside of the U.S., the UK has the next most top-100 universities (12) in the world, led by Oxford and Cambridge
Germany is second at eight and China third with seven.
As a region, Europe accounts for 36 of the top-100 non-American universities.

International interest in studying in the U.S. is plummeting according to data released to University World News.

For context, the U.S. has cornered the market on higher education, accounting for around one-third of the top-100 universities.

However, growing visa rejection rates amidst changing U.S. immigration policy, along with executive orders targeting education are impacting sentiments.

So for the international students looking: where are all the best universities outside the United States?

We list all the best non-U.S. universities according to their global rank by Times Higher Education.

ℹ️ Missing ranks indicate the spots American universities usually fill. Tied ranks are in place.

Ranked: Best Universities Outside America

Oxford and Cambridge lead the top-ranked universities outside America.

In fact, the UK has 12 universities in this ranking, the most for any one country.

Global Rank	University	Country	Region
1	University of Oxford	🇬🇧 UK	Europe
5	University of Cambridge	🇬🇧 UK	Europe
9	Imperial College London	🇬🇧 UK	Europe
11	ETH Zurich	🇨🇭 Switzerland	Europe
12	Tsinghua University	🇨🇳 China	Asia-Pacific
13	Peking University	🇨🇳 China	Asia-Pacific
17	National University of Singapore	🇸🇬 Singapore	Asia-Pacific
21	University of Toronto	🇨🇦 Canada	North America
22	UCL	🇬🇧 UK	Europe
26	Technical University of Munich	🇩🇪 Germany	Europe
28	The University of Tokyo	🇯🇵 Japan	Asia-Pacific
29	University of Edinburgh	🇬🇧 UK	Europe
30	Nanyang Technological University	🇸🇬 Singapore	Asia-Pacific
32	École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne	🇨🇭 Switzerland	Europe
35	University of Hong Kong	🇭🇰 Hong Kong	Asia-Pacific
36	Fudan University	🇨🇳 China	Asia-Pacific
36	King’s College London	🇬🇧 UK	Europe
38	LMU Munich	🇩🇪 Germany	Europe
39	University of Melbourne	🇦🇺 Australia	Asia-Pacific
41	University of British Columbia	🇨🇦 Canada	North America
42	Paris Sciences et Lettres	🇫🇷 France	Europe
43	KU Leuven	🇧🇪 Belgium	Europe
44	The Chinese University of Hong Kong	🇭🇰 Hong Kong	Asia-Pacific
45	McGill University	🇨🇦 Canada	North America
47	Universität Heidelberg	🇩🇪 Germany	Europe
47	Zhejiang University	🇨🇳 China	Asia-Pacific
49	Karolinska Institute	🇸🇪 Sweden	Europe
50	London School of Economics and Political Science	🇬🇧 UK	Europe
52	Shanghai Jiao Tong University	🇨🇳 China	Asia-Pacific
53	University of Manchester	🇬🇧 UK	Europe
53	University of Science and Technology of China	🇨🇳 China	Asia-Pacific
55	Kyoto University	🇯🇵 Japan	Asia-Pacific
56	Delft University of Technology	🇳🇱 Netherlands	Europe
58	Monash University	🇦🇺 Australia	Asia-Pacific
58	University of Amsterdam	🇳🇱 Netherlands	Europe
61	The University of Sydney	🇦🇺 Australia	Asia-Pacific
62	Seoul National University	🇰🇷 South Korea	Asia-Pacific
64	Université Paris-Saclay	🇫🇷 France	Europe
65	Nanjing University	🇨🇳 China	Asia-Pacific
66	The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology	🇭🇰 Hong Kong	Asia-Pacific
67	Wageningen University & Research	🇳🇱 Netherlands	Europe
71	Institut Polytechnique de Paris	🇫🇷 France	Europe
73	Australian National University	🇦🇺 Australia	Asia-Pacific
73	Leiden University	🇳🇱 Netherlands	Europe
76	Sorbonne University	🇫🇷 France	Europe
77	The University of Queensland	🇦🇺 Australia	Asia-Pacific
78	City University of Hong Kong	🇭🇰 Hong Kong	Asia-Pacific
78	University of Bristol	🇬🇧 UK	Europe
80	University of Groningen	🇳🇱 Netherlands	Europe
82	KAIST	🇰🇷 South Korea	Asia-Pacific
83	UNSW Sydney	🇦🇺 Australia	Asia-Pacific
84	Humboldt University of Berlin	🇩🇪 Germany	Europe
84	The Hong Kong Polytechnic University	🇭🇰 Hong Kong	Asia-Pacific
87	University of Glasgow	🇬🇧 UK	Europe
89	University of Bonn	🇩🇪 Germany	Europe
92	RWTH Aachen University	🇩🇪 Germany	Europe
93	Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin	🇩🇪 Germany	Europe
93	University of Birmingham	🇬🇧 UK	Europe
95	KTH Royal Institute of Technology	🇸🇪 Sweden	Europe
95	Lund University	🇸🇪 Sweden	Europe
97	University of Copenhagen	🇩🇰 Denmark	Europe
98	University of Sheffield	🇬🇧 UK	Europe
100	University of Tübingen	🇩🇪 Germany	Europe

Second places goes to Germany with eight top-100 schools, led by two Munich universities.

China is third at seven, that number jumping to 12 if including the universities in Hong Kong.

As a region however, Europe is clearly an academia and research hotspot, with 36 universities in the top 100.

These include the aforementioned UK and Germany universities but also known big names from Switzerland (ETH Zurich), France (PSL), and Netherlands (University of Amsterdam).

Outside Europe, good universities can also be found in Singapore, Australia, and Canada.

There is a notable absence of internationally ranked universities from South America and Africa.