Oxford named best university in the world for record 11 years in a row

Oxford University has been world number one in the Times Higher Education World University Rankings since 2017 - the longest time any university has held the position in the 22nd annual editions of the rankings. This year's rankings considered a record 2,297 universities from 118 countries.

Professor Irene Tracey, CBE, FRS, FMedSci, Vice-Chancellor, University of Oxford, said: ‘We are immensely proud that the University of Oxford has been ranked the world’s number one university for a record-breaking eleventh consecutive year by one of the leading and most rigorous ranking systems. What particularly pleases me is the depth and breadth of excellence this result reflects. From the quality and impact of our research to our thriving innovation ecosystem and global networks, all alongside uncompromising and outstanding teaching and student experience, Oxford is performing at the highest level in what is an increasingly competitive space.

This is something to celebrate and it is a testament to the extraordinary talent and dedication of our academics, students and professional services staff across the collegiate University as well as the rich higher education environment in which we operate. Rankings are, of course, only one measure of what makes a great university, and our focus remains firmly on what matters: pushing the boundaries of knowledge, educating exceptional students and putting our research and teaching to work for the benefit of society and the planet.'

Phil Baty, THE's Chief Global Affairs Officer, said: ‘Oxford’s record-breaking period as the world’s number one global research university continues – an ever more remarkable achievement given the intensifying competition, not least the dramatic continued rise of powerhouse universities in East Asia, and serious financial and geopolitical pressures on the UK and wider Western higher education system.
‘Times Higher Education’s World University Rankings are the most comprehensive and robust evaluation system, with 17 performance metrics covering the full range of global research universities’ core missions: teaching, research; knowledge transfer and industry links. Oxford excels, of course, across all the key metrics, but has the highest possible score for its research environment, which includes its academic standing among peers worldwide, and has the edge over other universities in the world top ten for international collaboration and international talent attraction.’

The process for the THE World Rankings is a rigorous piece of research built on an analysis of almost 20 million research papers, 1 million votes in an Academic Reputation Survey and detailed institutional data on over 3,000 universities worldwide.

The ranking is based on 17 specific metrics, covering all core missions of global, research-led universities, grouped into five areas: Teaching (the learning environment, with teaching reputation weighted highest in this metric); Research environment (volume, income and reputation); Research quality (citation impact, research strength, research excellence and research influence); International outlook (staff, students and research); and Industry (income and patents).

Oxford’s strength in this year’s table came from its high standard across all metrics. In eight of the metrics the university scores the maximum 100 – including research productivity, research excellence and teaching reputation – and in six metrics, it scores above 95. The university has also improved its score on international staff, and edged out second-ranked university MIT on research productivity, international co-authorship and doctorate-staff ratio.

News about the results of the rankings was announced at the World Academic Summit in Cape Town on the night of October September 29.
Oxford was followed in the THE World Rankings by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in second. 

View the full THE World Education Rankings 2027 here.