Top 10 universities in the world 2025

The Times Higher Education (THE) recently announced its rankings for universities in the world for 2025.

According to THE, “The 2025 rankings includes 2,092 ranked universities. There are 185 new entries when compared with last year. Overall, we collected 472,694 data points from 2,860 institutions that submitted data.

“Our detailed methodology, trusted worldwide by students, teachers, academics, governments and industry experts, is based on: 157 million citations; 18 million research publications; and survey responses from more than 93,000 scholars globally.

Here are the 10 highest ranked universities in the world in 2025;

Oxford University, UK:

Oxford University is ranked the best university in the world, in the Times Higher Education rankings for 2025, holding on to the top spot for the ninth consecutive year, as the institution is bolstered by significant improvements in industry engagement and teaching.

Oxford University has an Overall Ranking of 98.5, Teaching 96.8, Research Environment 100.0, Research Quality 98.8, Industry 99.6 and International Outlook 97.3 statistics to emerge the top of the rankings.

Massachusetts Institute of technology, USA:

Massachusetts Institute of Technology is the second best ranked tertiary institution in the world.

The university has an Overall Ranking of 98.1, Teaching 99.2, Research Environment 96.0, Research Quality 99.7, Industry 100.0 and International Outlook 93.8 to emerge second ranked institution globally.

Harvard University, USA:

Harvard University, a private Ivy League research institution is ranked third best higher education institute in the world.

The university has an Overall Ranking of 97.7, Teaching 97.3, Research Environment 99.9, Research Quality 99.3, Industry 85.7 and International Outlook 90.1, to become the third highest ranked university in the world.

Princeton University, USA:

Princeton University is another private Ivy League research institute and it is the world’s fourth best tertiary institution, according to THE 2025 rankings.

Princeton has an Overall Ranking of 97.5, Teaching 98.3, Research Environment 98.0, Research Quality 98.9, Industry 96.9, and International Outlook 87.4, to emerge fourth highest ranked university in the world.

University of Cambridge, England:

University of Cambridge, a public collegiate research university in England is ranked fifth globally.

The University of Cambridge has an Overall Ranking of 97.4, Teaching 95.9, Research Environment 99.9, Research Quality 97.6, Industry 88.4, and International Outlook 97.1.

Stanford University, USA:

Stanford University, a private research university founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford is ranked sixth best university in the world by THE.

The university has an Overall Ranking of 97.2, Teaching 97.5, Research Environment 97.3, Research Quality 99.6, Industry 100.0, and International Outlook 85.1, to place sixth in world rankings.

California Institute of Technology, USA:

California Institute of Technology is a private research university in Pasadena, USA, and it is ranked seventh in the latest THE world universities ranking.

California Institute of Technology has an Overall Ranking of 96.3, Teaching 95.2, Research Environment 97.5, Research Quality 97.3, Industry 100.0, and International Outlook 89.7, to emerge seventh best university in world rankings.

University of California, USA:

University of California, a public land-grant research university system in the U.S. is at the eighth position, according to the 2025 THE world higher education rankings.

University of California, Berkeley has an Overall Ranking of 94.5, Teaching 87.2, Research Environment 98.9, Research Quality 99.0, Industry 99.5, and International Outlook 86.4, to be ranked the eighth best university in the world.

Imperial College, London:

Imperial College, London is a public research university and it is ranked ninth globally according to the 2025 THE ranking announced recently.

Imperial College, London has an Overall Ranking of 94.4, Teaching 89.3, Research Environment 94.9, Research Quality 98.5, Industry 90.8, and International Outlook 98.3, to be ranked the ninth best university in the world.

Yale University, USA:

Yale University is a private Ivy League research institution in America, and it is ranked 10th in the latest World Universities Rankings.

Yale University has an Overall Ranking of 94.1, Teaching 93.7, Research Environment 95.0, Research Quality 97.8, Industry 86.5, and International Outlook 82.3, placing it as the 10th highest ranked university in the world.