2025 Times Higher Education Rankings: US, UK universities dominate top spots, Europe declines

The 2025 Times Higher Education (THE) World University Rankings have been released. Universities from the United States and the United Kingdom continue to dominate the top positions, while many European institutions experienced a decline.

For a record-breaking ninth consecutive year, the University of Oxford retains its position as the world’s top-ranked university. Following closely are the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Harvard University, and Princeton University, which moved up from sixth to fourth place. The University of Cambridge held steady in fifth place, while Stanford University dropped from second to sixth.

The top 10 rankings were exclusively occupied by US and UK universities, with seven institutions from the US and three from the UK, including Oxford at the top.

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The 2025 THE World University Rankings assessed over 2,000 universities from 115 countries and regions, using 18 performance indicators across five key categories: teaching, research environment, research quality, international outlook, and industry engagement.

This year’s rankings reflect a changing global higher education landscape, with European universities generally slipping in their positions, while Asian institutions continued to climb.