The Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2020 includes almost 1,400 universities across 92 countries, standing as the largest and most diverse university rankings ever to date.

The table is based on 13 carefully calibrated performance indicators that measure an institution’s performance across teaching, research, knowledge transfer and international outlook.

The only university ranking to be independently audited by professional services firm PricewaterhouseCoopers, and trusted worldwide by students, teachers, governments and industry experts, this year’s league table provides great insight into the shifting balance of power in global higher education.

For the fourth year in a row, the University of Oxford leads the rankings in first place, while the University of Cambridge falls to third. The California Institute of Technology rises three places to second, while Stanford, Yale, Harvard and Imperial College London all appear in the top ten.

Mainland China now provides both of Asia’s top two universities, with Tsinghua and Peking universities finishing at 23rd and 24th place respectively. The country’s universities have continued to expand their influence and presence on the world stage.

The US is, once again, extremely well-represented among the global elite, while Canada’s top universities have risen up the table.

In Europe, Italy’s top institutions all make headway among the elite top 200 and German representation remains strong. However, the UK faces declines.

Elsewhere, Iran has 11 more ranked universities to take its representation up to 40 institutions, while Latin America struggles in a competitive global market – although Brazil adds several more institutions to the list.

Several new regions join the rankings this year as Brunei, Cuba, Malta, Montenegro, Puerto Rico and Vietnam all see institutions represented for the first time. Bangladesh also re-joins the table.

1-25 Results of the World University Rankings 2020

Rank Name
Country/Region
No. of FTE Students

No. of students per staff

International Students

Female:Male Ratio
1 University of Oxford
United Kingdom
20,664 11.2 41% 46 : 54
2 California Institute of Technology
United States
2,240 6.4 30% 34 : 66
3 University of Cambridge
United Kingdom
18,978 10.9 37% 47 : 53
4 Stanford University
United States
16,135 7.3 23% 43 : 57
5 Massachusetts Institute of Technology
United States
11,247 8.6 34% 39 : 61
6 Princeton University
United States
7,983 8.1 25% 45 : 55
7 Harvard University
United States
20,823 9.2 24% 49 : 51
8 Yale University
United States
12,402 5.4 20% 50 : 50
9 University of Chicago
United States
13,833 5.7 28% 46 : 54
10 Imperial College London
United Kingdom
16,760 11.7 56% 38 : 62
11 University of Pennsylvania
United States
20,578 6.5 21% 52 : 48
12 Johns Hopkins University
United States
16,171 4.5 26% 52 : 48
=13 University of California, Berkeley
United States
41,081 13.7 17% 50 : 50
=13 ETH Zurich
Switzerland
18,956 12.5 39% 32 : 68
15 UCL
United Kingdom
32,665 10.6 52% 57 : 43
16 Columbia University
United States
26,586 5.8 37% n/a
17 University of California, Los Angeles
United States
41,066 9.4 17% 54 : 46
18 University of Toronto
Canada
73,370 20.1 21% 59 : 41
19 Cornell University
United States
22,319 9.8 25% 49 : 51
20 Duke University
United States
15,309 4.3 19% 49 : 51
21 University of Michigan-Ann Arbor
United States
42,982 8.3 17% 49 : 51
22 Northwestern University
United States
17,951 12.8 20% 49 : 51
23 Tsinghua University
China
38,783 12.0 11% 34 : 66
24 Peking University
China
39,575 11.5 15% 46 : 54
25 National University of Singapore
Singapore
30,869 17.9 28% 51 : 49

Source: Times Higher Education (THE), 2019

新形态2020