What are the Times Higher Education World University Rankings?
The THE World University Rankings are the gold standard global higher education ranking system.
For more than a decade, Times Higher Education has produced an ordered list of universities, updated annually and trusted by students, parents and academics.
The universities are rated in five categories: Teaching, Research, Research Influence, Innovation and International Outlook.
The THE World University Rankings are unique in using these five scores to recognise excellence across all core missions of a leading global university: research, teaching, knowledge transfer and international activity.
How do I use the rankings to choose a university?
The rankings can help you choose a university by giving you more information about the quality of the teaching, research, innovation and environment at different institutions. It also provides an overall comparison between institutions.
However, the rankings cannot make a decision for you. Statistics do not give you a full picture of what it is really like at a university.
Combined with advice from current students and academics, and visits to the universities that you are interested in, the rankings can be used to make an informed choice about which university is right for your unique circumstances and priorities.
Ultimately, only you will know whether a university is a good fit for you. For this reason, THE never gives direct or personal advice about which university you should choose.
To help you with the decision process, in the World University Rankings table under performance breakdown, you can sort universities by each performance indicator to suit your priorities, and you can further explore by key statistics to discover more information about the university environment.
If you are interested in how a university ranks for a specific subject, you can choose the relevant subject ranking – see here for a full list of the subject rankings.
I have an offer from a specific university. Should I accept it?
THE cannot make that decision for you, since every person’s circumstances are unique. You can browse the rankings to compare how that university ranks against others for the same subject or in the same region. You can also explore the student advice guides to hear from experts, students and graduates about the university experience.
How is the ranking calculated?
Overall rank is calculated from scores for 13 different performances indicators, grouped into five categories: Teaching, Research, Research Influence, Innovation and International Outlook.
To produce the 13 indicators for each university, THE’s in-house data team analyses data that universities supply (for example, staff-to-student ratios, doctorates awarded, international students and research income), the results of a “reputation survey” sent to selected academics across the world, and information about published research papers and citations, using Elsevier’s Scopus database.
Each performance indicator (and correspondingly each of the five broader performance categories) is assigned a percentage weighting in the overall ranking score.
Teaching quality counts for 30 per cent, Research counts for 30 per cent, Research Influence counts for 30 per cent, International Outlook counts for 7.5 per cent and Innovation counts for 2.5 per cent.
You can read more about the methodology and why the performance indicators are relevant markers of world-leading universities in The World University Rankings: Explained.
What do the five "performance breakdown" scores mean?
Teaching is a measure of the learning experience and quality at a university. It is based on the reputation among academics, and statistics about staff, students and research.
Research is a measure of both the quality and quantity of research output, based on reputation, research income and productivity.
Citations measures how influential that research is, and counts the number of times work published by academics at the university is cited in other papers.
International Outlook measures the environment and attitude with respect to international students, staff and research. It is based on international-to-domestic ratios across staff, students and research collaborations.
Innovation or Industry Income is a measure of innovation at a university, based on how much the university earns from its inventions and industrial work.
What are the "key statistics"?
Key statistics provide more information about the student experience and university environment. In addition to the overall rank and performance breakdown, you can see:
Number of students
Staff-to-student ratio
Male-to-female students
Percentage of international students
If you are looking for:
More information about the universities
For facts and data about specific countries, universities and courses, and to hear from experts and students themselves, head to THE Student, where you can search the university directory, keep up to date with student news, read blogs written by students from all over the world and find helpful guides to universities, admissions, finance, employment and many other topics.
A specific university
You can search the rankings by university name or country, using the search tool at the top of the World University Rankings table. If the university you are looking for is not in the rankings, you can search the university directory by name or country to find more information. You can also search the rankings from within the directory by selecting World University Rankings and entering the number ranks you want to search between.
Universities in a specific country or region
You can filter the rankings table using the filter tool at the top to see only universities in countries of your choosing. You can filter by as many countries as you want. For example, if you wanted to see only universities in the US, UK and Australia, you could add those three tags in the filter box at the same time. Alternatively you can look at our "Best in" pages, which break down the best universities in a number of countries around the world.
A specific course to study
If you already know what you want to study, the Subject Rankings can help you find the best universities for that subject. The subject rankings are:
Arts and humanities
Clinical, pre-clinical and health
Engineering and technology
Life sciences
Physical sciences
Social sciences
Education
Law
Psychology
Computer science
Business and economics
Further questions:
Why can’t I find a university I am looking for?
If you can’t find a university when you search the rankings by university name, it could be because that university is not ranked, or is known under a different name. Try searching the rankings by country instead, or search the university directory to find an unranked university.
A university may not be ranked for two reasons: either it does not fulfil the inclusion criteria for the rankings, or it did not score highly enough to be included.
A university is not included if it does not teach undergraduates, if it teaches only one subject, or if it produces fewer than an average of 200 research papers a year.
Is there a different table for undergraduate and postgraduate study?
There is not a different table for undergraduates and postgraduates. However, the same performance metrics are relevant to postgraduates, particularly given that the Teaching metric actually takes into account doctorate-to-bachelor student ratio and doctorates awarded per number of academic staff ratio.
Why do the rankings change every year?
The rankings are dynamic and there are significant changes year-on-year due to changes in university performance.
Why has my university dropped rank?
There could be many reasons why your university has dropped, most likely due to an actual change in how the university is perceived or performs.
A university’s score depends on its reputation, research income and influence, among other more stable factors. If policy changes at a university affect how it is perceived, it could score lower in the reputation survey of academics. Likewise, policy changes can affect research income, productivity and even impact.
For more information and news about your specific university, try searching Academic or the Student section for policy news or information about student life.
What subject ranking does my course fall under?
| Course | Subject Ranking | |
| A | Accounting and Finance | Business and Economics |
| Acoustics | Engineering and Technology | |
| Academic Studies in Education | Education | |
| Aerospace Engineering | Engineering and Technology | |
| Agriculture, Fisheries and Food | Life Sciences | |
| Allergy | Clinical, Pre-clinical and Health | |
| Anaesthesiology | Clinical, Pre-clinical and Health | |
| Anatomy and Morphology | Life Sciences | |
| Anthropology | Social Sciences | |
| Archaeology | Arts and Humanities | |
| Architecture | Arts and Humanities | |
| Area Studies | Social Sciences | |
| Art | Arts and Humanities | |
| Asian Studies | Arts and Humanities | |
| Astronomy and Astrophysics | Physical Sciences | |
| Automation and Control Systems | Engineering and Technology | |
| B | Behavioural Sciences | Life Sciences |
| Biology, Biochemistry and Biotechnology | Life Sciences | |
| Biomedical Engineering | Engineering and Technology | |
| Biomedical Social Sciences | Social Sciences | |
| Biophysics | Life Sciences | |
| Business | Business and Economics | |
| C | Cardiovascular System and Cardiology | Clinical, Pre-clinical and Health |
| Chemical Engineering | Engineering and Technology | |
| Chemistry | Physical Sciences | |
| Civil Engineering | Engineering and Technology | |
| Classics | Arts and Humanities | |
| Clinical Psychology | Psychology | |
| Communication | Social Sciences | |
| Computer and Information Science | Computer Science | |
| Construction and Building Technology | Engineering and Technology | |
| Criminology and Penology | Social Sciences | |
| Crystallography | Physical Sciences | |
| Cultural Studies | Arts and Humanities | |
| D | Dance | Arts and Humanities |
| Decision Support/Statistics | Social Sciences | |
| Demography | Social Sciences | |
| Dentistry and Oral Surgery | Clinical, Pre-clinical and Health | |
| Dermatology | Clinical, Pre-clinical and Health | |
| E | Earth and Environmental Engineering | Engineering and Technology |
| Earth Sciences | Physical Sciences | |
| Ecology, Evolution and Environment | Life Sciences | |
| Economics and Econometrics | Business and Economics | |
| Education | Education | |
| Electrical and Electronic Engineering | Engineering and Technology | |
| Endocrinology and Metabolism | Clinical, Pre-clinical & Health | |
| Energy and Fuels | Engineering and Technology | |
| Entomology | Life Sciences | |
| Ethnic Studies | Social Sciences | |
| F | Family Studies | Social Sciences |
| Film, Radio and Television | Arts and Humanities | |
| Forestry | Life Sciences | |
| G | Gastroenterology and Hepatology | Clinical, Pre-clinical and Health |
| Genetics and Heredity | Life Sciences | |
| Geography | Social Sciences | |
| Geriatrics and Gerontology | Clinical, Pre-clinical and Health | |
| H | Haematology | Clinical, Pre-clinical and Health |
| Health Care Sciences and Services | Clinical, Pre-clinical and Health | |
| History | Arts and Humanities | |
| History and Philosophy of Science | Arts and Humanities | |
| I | Imaging Science and Photographic Technology | Engineering and Technology |
| Immunology | Life Sciences | |
| Industrial Engineering | Engineering and Technology | |
| Infectious Diseases | Clinical, Pre-clinical and Health | |
| Instruments and Instrumentation | Engineering and Technology | |
| International Relations | Social Sciences | |
| L | Languages, Philology and Linguistic Studies | Arts and Humanities |
| Law | Law | |
| Legal Medicine | Clinical, Pre-clinical and Health | |
| Library Science | Social Sciences | |
| Literature | Arts and Humanities | |
| M | Marine Engineering | Engineering and Technology |
| Materials Science | Engineering and Technology | |
| Mathematical Methods in Social Sciences | Social Sciences | |
| Mathematics and Statistics | Physical Sciences | |
| Mechanical Engineering | Engineering and Technology | |
| Mechanics | Engineering and Technology | |
| Medical Ethics | Clinical, Pre-clinical and Health | |
| Medical Informatics | Clinical, Pre-clinical and Health | |
| Medical Laboratory Technology | Clinical, Pre-clinical and Health | |
| Medicine, General and Internal | Clinical, Pre-clinical and Health | |
| Metallurgy and Metallurgical Engineering | Engineering and Technology | |
| Meteorology and Atmospheric Sciences | Physical Sciences | |
| Mining and Mineral Processing | Engineering and Technology | |
| Music | Arts and Humanities | |
| Mycology | Life Sciences | |
| N | Nanotechnology | Physical Sciences |
| Neurosciences and Neurology | Clinical, Pre-clinical and Health | |
| Nuclear Science and Technology | Engineering and Technology | |
| Nursing | Clinical, Pre-clinical and Health | |
| Nutrition and Dietetics | Clinical, Pre-clinical and Health | |
| O | Obstetrics and Gynaecology | Clinical, Pre-clinical and Health |
| Oncology | Clinical, Pre-clinical and Health | |
| Operations Research and Management Science | Engineering and Technology | |
| Ophthalmology | Clinical, Pre-clinical and Health | |
| Orthopedics | Clinical, Pre-clinical and Health | |
| Otorhinolaryngology | Clinical, Pre-clinical and Health | |
| P | Paediatrics | Clinical, Pre-clinical and Health |
| Palaeontology | Life Sciences | |
| Parasitology | Life Sciences | |
| Pathology | Clinical, Pre-clinical and Health | |
| Pharmacology and Pharmacy | Clinical, Pre-clinical and Health/Life Sciences | |
| Philosophy | Arts and Humanities | |
| Physics | Physical Sciences | |
| Physiology | Life Sciences | |
| Plant Sciences | Life Sciences | |
| Political Science | Social Sciences | |
| Polymer Science | Physical Sciences | |
| Psychiatry | Clinical, Pre-clinical and Health | |
| Psychology | Psychology | |
| Public Administration | Social Sciences | |
| Public, Environmental and Occupational Health | Clinical, Pre-clinical and Health | |
| R | Radiology, Nuclear Medicine and Medical Imaging | Clinical, Pre-clinical and Health |
| Rehabilitation | Clinical, Pre-clinical and Health | |
| Respiratory System | Clinical, Pre-clinical and Health | |
| Rheumatology | Clinical, Pre-clinical and Health | |
| Robotics | Engineering and Technology | |
| S | Social Issues | Social Sciences |
| Social Work | Social Sciences | |
| Sociology | Social Sciences | |
| Sport Sciences | Clinical, Pre-clinical and Health | |
| Surgery | Clinical, Pre-clinical and Health | |
| T | Telecommunications | Engineering and Technology |
| Teacher Training | Education | |
| Theatre | Arts and Humanities | |
| Theology and Religion | Arts and Humanities | |
| Toxicology | Clinical, Pre-clinical and Health/Life Sciences | |
| Transplantation | Clinical, Pre-clinical and Health | |
| Transportation | Engineering and Technology | |
| Tropical Medicine | Clinical, Pre-clinical and Health | |
| U | Urban Studies | Social Sciences |
| Urology and Nephrology | Clinical, Pre-clinical and Health | |
| V | Veterinary Sciences | Life Sciences |
| Virology | Life Sciences | |
| W | Women's Studies | Social Sciences |
| Z | Zoology | Life Sciences |
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