The University of Oxford retained its fourth-place ranking, while Harvard University rounded out the top five. Yale University, the Chinese University of Hong Kong, and Johns Hopkins University also made the top 20, according to El País.
The ranking, compiled annually by the British analytics firm QS Quacquarelli Symonds, covers more than 1,500 universities from 106 countries and territories. The evaluation of universities takes into account academic reputation, employer opinions, citation rates of research publications, the faculty-to-student ratio, the level of internationalization, and international research collaboration.
The main difference in this year’s edition was the strengthening of the positions of universities in East Asia and the Middle East. According to QS, China became the largest source of new entrants to the ranking and contributed the most to the number of universities that improved their rankings. Universities in the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia also showed significant progress. There, growth was driven by large-scale investments in research, infrastructure, and the recruitment of international faculty and students.
“The global higher education market is becoming increasingly competitive. The United States and Europe maintain their leadership, but universities in Asia and the Middle East continue to close the gap,” the QS review notes.
The 2027 rankings included 98 new universities. The most successful newcomer was Central European University, which ranked 239th. Most of the new entrants are ranked between 1,000th and 1,500th.
Despite intensifying competition, universities in the U.S. and the U.K. continue to dominate the top of the rankings. U.S. universities account for 184 entries in the rankings, while U.K. universities account for 93.
It should be noted that the QS World University Rankings is considered one of the most widely cited international university rankings and is used annually by students, employers, and educational organizations to assess the competitiveness of universities on a global scale.
