Asia rises ahead of Europe in global university ranking as China's Tsinghua beats top Swiss school

Asia has overtaken Europe for the first time in the Times Higher Education (THE) World University Rankings, with China's Tsinghua University rising to 11th place and becoming the highest-ranked university outside the U.S. and U.K.

Tsinghua climbed one place in the 2027 rankings, overtaking Switzerland's ETH Zurich, which fell to 12th.

The shift makes Tsinghua the first Asian university to rank above a European institution in the history of the THE World University Rankings.

Tsinghua's rise was driven partly by improvements in its international outlook, particularly in the number of international academic staff and students. However, its performance in global research co-authorship remains a relative weakness, according to THE.

THE analysis found that if Tsinghua raised its international outlook score to 80, it could climb to eighth place globally. Increasing its international co-authorship score to around 75 could also potentially lift it to eighth or ninth.

Students during their graduation ceremony at Tsinghua University in June, 2025. Photo from the university's Facebook page

China is investing heavily in its universities and seeking to attract international students and researchers. However, geopolitical tensions and the country's emphasis on research self-sufficiency could limit cross-border collaboration, THE said.

The organization noted that Chinese universities are increasingly taking a selective approach to internationalization, focusing on strategic fields and national priorities. This leaves the timing of China's first university entering the global top 10 uncertain.

China's Peking University followed as the second-highest-ranked Asian university, placing 13th, while the National University of Singapore (NUS) rose two places to 15th. The presence of three Asian institutions in the global top 15 is also a first for the rankings.

The rise of Asia is also evident in the top 200, with Asian universities making further gains in the 2027 ranking as several European institutions dropped out of the group.

For the first time, a Malaysian institution, the University of Malaya, has entered the global top 200, ranking joint 194th. China also increased its presence in the group from 13 to 17 universities, adding four institutions this year.

Belgium, the Netherlands, and Spain each lost one university from the top 200 while France saw a decline at the top of the rankings, with all four of its highest-ranked universities falling by around 10 places.

In South Korea, four of the country's five leading universities improved their rankings. Sungkyunkwan University rose for the fourth consecutive year, climbing 19 places this year to break into the world's top 70. Korea University also jumped nearly 30 places, moving from outside the top 150 into the top 130.

However, the global top 10 remains dominated by universities from the U.S. and U.K. The University of Oxford retained first place for an 11th consecutive year, followed by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in second. Princeton and Stanford shared third place, while the University of Cambridge ranked fifth.

Oxford's lead over MIT has narrowed to just 0.1 points, the smallest margin between the top two universities in the ranking’s history. Oxford performed strongly in research productivity, international co-authorship and its doctorate-to-staff ratio, while MIT scored better in student-to-staff ratio, citation impact and research strength.

ETH Zurich remained the highest-ranked university in continental Europe. Its Swiss counterpart, the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne (EPFL), fell one place to 36th.

Switzerland had six universities in the global top 200, including the University of Basel at 111th, the University of Bern at 121st, the University of Lausanne at 129th and the University of Geneva at 163rd.

The 2027 ranking covers 2,297 universities across 118 countries and territories, making it the largest edition of the Times Higher Education World University Rankings to date.

Universities are assessed across five areas: teaching, which measures the learning environment; research environment, covering research volume, income and reputation; research quality, including citation impact, research strength, research excellence and research influence; international outlook, covering staff, students and research; and industry, which measures income and patents.

The methodology uses 17 performance indicators. Research quality carries the largest weight at 30%, followed by teaching at 29.5% and research environment at 29%. International outlook accounts for 7.5%, while industry contributes 4%.

The top 15 universities of the THE World University Rankings 2027:

Rank	University	Country	Overall score
1	University of Oxford	United Kingdom	97.9
2	Massachusetts Institute of Technology	United States	97.8
3 (tie)	Princeton University	United States	97.0
3 (tie)	Stanford University	United States	97.0
5	University of Cambridge	United Kingdom	96.9
6	Harvard University	United States	96.7
7	California Institute of Technology	United States	96.5
8	Imperial College London	United Kingdom	95.2
9 (tie)	University of California, Berkeley	United States	94.3
9 (tie)	Yale University	United States	94.3
11	Tsinghua University	China	93.9
12	ETH Zurich	Switzerland	93.6
13	Peking University	China	92.8
14	University of Pennsylvania	United States	91.5
15	National University of Singapore	Singapore	91.1
16	The University of Chicago	United States	90.7
17	Johns Hopkins University	United States	90.3
	University College London	United Kingdom	90.3
19	Columbia University	Columbia	90.0
20	The University of California, Los Angeles	United States	89.9