MIT Takes The Crown In 2025-2026 BlueSky Composite Ranking

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The Massachusetts Institute of Technology has returned to the top of the 2025-2026 BlueSky Ranking of University Rankings, a composite index that merges the world’s four most influential global league tables — Times Higher Education, QS, U.S. News & World Report, and the Academic Ranking of World Universities — into a unified list of the top 100 global universities. Released by the U.K.-based consultancy BlueSky Thinking, the ranking has been published annually since 2020. (Poets&Quants is owned by Times Higher Education.)

MIT reclaims the No. 1 position from Harvard University, which slips to second. Stanford University drops to No. 3 from No. 2. Oxford and Cambridge, respectively, complete the top five. The University of California at Berkeley surges to No. 6 — its highest-ever showing in the BlueSky composite — while Imperial College London leaps four places to No. 7, continuing a multiyear upward trajectory. Caltech drops to eighth, followed by Yale and Princeton, respectively, at Nos. 9 and 10.

Behind the top tier, the middle zone is fluid. Columbia, once ranked among the elite, continues to soften, falling to 17th place. Meanwhile, University College London moves up to 11, Tsinghua University breaks into a tie for 12th with the University of Chicago, and ETH Zurich climbs to 18. The ranking also shows continued strength from Cornell, Johns Hopkins, Penn, and Toronto — all inside the global top 20.

ASIAN UNIVERSITIES CONTINUE TO GAIN GROUND

While the upper echelon remains relatively stable, perhaps the most striking trend in the 2025-2026 ranking is the steady rise of Asian institutions — particularly in mainland China. Tsinghua reaches its highest-ever placement, tied at No. 12. Peking University lands at No. 18, with Zhejiang, Fudan, and Shanghai Jiao Tong all pushing upward. Chinese universities perform particularly well in the ARWU and U.S. News tables, both of which emphasize research output and citations. Altogether, nine Chinese universities now rank among the global top 100, and five are in the top 50.

The United States remains dominant across the composite: MIT, Harvard, Stanford, Berkeley, Caltech, Yale, Princeton, Penn, Chicago, Cornell, Johns Hopkins, UCLA, Michigan, and Northwestern all occupy top-40 positions. But momentum is slipping. According to BlueSky’s analysis, 80% of the top-ranked U.S. universities have lost ground since the 2022-2023 ranking.

The United Kingdom maintains a powerful presence in the ranking, with Oxford, Cambridge, Imperial, and UCL all ranked among the top 15. However, while its institutions remain strong in reputation surveys, BlueSky notes that the country’s overall performance has plateaued, with several major universities slipping from their previous positions.

REPUTATION UP, RANKING DOWN FOR AUSTRALIA

Australia’s trajectory is more mixed. While some institutions, including the University of Melbourne and the University of Sydney, continue to score well on academic reputation, their overall rankings have declined. BlueSky attributes this divergence to damaged international outlook scores and weaker employer perceptions.

Elsewhere in Europe, research-intensive institutions are making small gains. ETH Zurich climbs to No. 18 from No. 16, and École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, another Swiss school, continues to perform well, rising to No. 40 from No. 54. Germany’s Technical University of Munich (No. 42) strengthens its position, while universities in the Netherlands, France, and Scandinavia are also registering upward movement.

The full BlueSky Ranking of the top 100 universities worldwide is now available on the BlueSky Thinking website. The report includes detailed performance breakdowns across each ranking system, individual institutional profiles, and a five-year trajectory analysis that tracks how global universities have fared since the ranking’s inception in 2020. 

2025-2026 BLUESKY UNIVERSITY RANKING

BlueSky Rank (2025/26)

Rank (2022/23)

University

Country

THE 2025

QS 2025/26

U.S. News 2025/26

ARWU Shanghai 2025
1 2 Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) USA 2 1 2 3
2 1 Harvard University USA 3 5 1 1
3 2 Stanford University USA 6 3 3 2
4 4 University of Oxford UK 1 4 4 6
5 4 University of Cambridge UK 5 6 5 4
6 7 University of California, Berkeley USA 8 17 6 5
7 11 Imperial College London UK 9 2 11 26
8 6 California Institute of Technology (Caltech) USA 7 10 23 9
9 10 Yale University USA 10 21 9 11
10 8 Princeton University USA 4 25 16 7
11 14 UCL UK 22 9 7 16
12 13 & 18 University of Pennsylvania / Tsinghua University USA / China 14 / 12 15 / 17 15 / 11 14 / 18
14 12 University of Chicago USA 14 13 26 10
15 17 Cornell University USA 20 16 16 12
16 15 Johns Hopkins University USA 16 24 14 19
17 9 Columbia University USA 18 38 10 8
18 16 & 22 ETH Zurich / Peking University Switzerland / China 11 / 13 7 / 14 35 / 25 22 / 23
20 19 University of Toronto Canada 21 29 16 25
21 19 University of California, Los Angeles USA 18 46 13 16
22 27 National University of Singapore Singapore 17 8 20 56
23 21 University of Michigan–Ann Arbor USA 22 45 21 33
24 26 University of Melbourne Australia 39 19 30 38
25 23 Northwestern University USA 31 42 24 31
26 28 University of Washington USA 25 81 8 17
27 24 University of Edinburgh UK 29 34 39 37
28 26 University of California, San Diego USA 34 66 21 20
29 25 New York University USA 33 55 32 28
30 40 University of Hong Kong Hong Kong 35 11 44 67
31 34 Nanyang Technological University Singapore 30 12 28 88
32 29 Duke University USA 27 62 27 46
33 30 King’s College London UK 36 31 36 61
34 49 Zhejiang University China 47 49 45 24
35 43 Technical University of Munich Germany 26 22 79 45
36 32 University of British Columbia Canada 41 40 41 53
36 51 Shanghai Jiao Tong University China 52 47 46 30
38 59 Fudan University China 36 30 70 41
39 33 The University of Tokyo Japan 28 36 84 31
40 54 École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne Switzerland 32 22 86 44
41 36 The University of Sydney Australia 61 25 29 72
42 38 LMU Munich Germany 38 58 57 42
43 45 Karolinska Institute Sweden 49 52 50 —
44 35 University of Manchester UK 53 35 68 46
45 42 Monash University Australia 58 36 38 76
46 41 McGill University Canada 45 27 62 76
47 44 UNSW Sydney Australia 83 20 34 80
48 49 Université Paris‑Saclay France 64 70 78 13
49 37 The University of Queensland Australia 77 42 43 65
50 58 KU Leuven Belgium 43 60 50 76
51 39 University of Texas at Austin USA 50 68 65 49
52 48 Universität Heidelberg Germany 47 80 59 51
53 57 Chinese University of Hong Kong Hong Kong 44 32 37 125
54 51 Sorbonne University France 76 72 62 43
55 62 University of Amsterdam Netherlands 58 53 33 125
56 56 University of Wisconsin–Madison USA 56 110 72 36
57 61 University of Copenhagen Denmark 97 101 41 35
58 60 Utrecht University Netherlands — 103 49 56
59 55 University of Illinois at Urbana‑Champaign USA 46 70 109 53
60 47 Washington University in St. Louis USA 69 167 31 26
61 97 City University of Hong Kong Hong Kong 78 63 54 99
62 68 University of Science and Technology of China China 53 132 71 40
63 64 University of Zurich Switzerland — 100 59 64
64 51 University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill USA 70 140 51 39
65 66 Seoul National University South Korea 62 38 133 81
66 46 Australian National University Australia 73 32 86 125
67 67 Carnegie Mellon University USA 24 52 126 125
68 109 Nanjing University China 65 103 86 75
69 65 University of Bristol UK 78 51 105 98
70 82 Free University of Berlin Germany 104 88 59 —
71 73 University of Glasgow UK 87 69 62 125
72 63 Kyoto University Japan 55 57 187 46
73 75 Humboldt University of Berlin Germany 84 130 47 —
74 68 University of Southern California USA 72 146 77 70
75 89 Hong Kong Polytechnic University Hong Kong 84 54 58 175
76 86 Leiden University Netherlands 73 119 56 125
77 76 Boston University USA 75 88 86 125
78 76 University of Groningen Netherlands 80 147 75 73
79 74 University of California, Davis USA 62 114 96 125
80 99 Penn State University USA 100 82 91 125
81 70 University of California, Santa Barbara USA 67 179 91 70
82 113 Lund University Sweden 95 72 121 125
83 71 Georgia Institute of Technology USA 40 123 79 175
84 79 University of Oslo Norway 116 119 100 83
85 80 University of Minnesota — Twin Cities USA 87 210 72 51
86 86 University of Helsinki Finland 107 116 113 94
87 88 University of Birmingham UK 93 76 94 175
88 101 Aarhus University Denmark 110 131 117 85
89 78 University of Maryland USA 112 207 72 55
90 94 Erasmus University Rotterdam Netherlands 107 140 76 125
91 85 University of Western Australia Australia 149 77 98 125
92 91 Ohio State University USA 116 190 66 83
93 72 Brown University USA 58 123 150 125
94 111 Uppsala University Sweden 130 93 141 93
95 117 HKUST (Hong Kong University of Science & Tech) Hong Kong 66 44 101 250
96 93 Vanderbilt University USA 90 250 66 62
97 107 Delft University of Technology Netherlands 56 47 191 175
98 90 Ghent University Belgium 112 162 107 91
99 92 Emory University USA 98 182 69 125
100 83 University of Adelaide Australia 128 82 99 175
82 113 Lund University Sweden 95 72 121 125
83 71 Georgia Institute of Technology USA 40 123 79 175
84 79 University of Oslo Norway 116 119 100 83
85 80 University of Minnesota — Twin Cities USA 87 210 72 51
86 86 University of Helsinki Finland 107 116 113 94
87 88 University of Birmingham UK 93 76 94 175

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