Oxford stays top for record 11th year but Asian universities crack the top 15 for the first time as Cambridge slips

From the Newshound archive · first published 30 September 2026 · last updated 2 October 2026.

Oxford University has held on to first place in the World University Rankings for a record-breaking 11th consecutive year, although its advantage over MIT has narrowed to the smallest gap ever recorded — a mere one-tenth of a point. Cambridge has dropped back as Chinese and Asian institutions push upward, with three Asian universities breaking into the top 15 for the first time. The US now counts only 96 universities in the top 500, the fewest since the rankings launched in 2004.

The National University of Singapore leapfrogged both the University of Chicago and Johns Hopkins to reach 15th place, marking a historic milestone for Asian higher education.

Four London universities placed in the top 50, with Imperial College ranked 8th for the second year running — ahead of Yale and Columbia — while UCL rose four places to 17th.

Times Higher Education's chief global affairs officer warned that 'the tectonic plates of global higher education are shifting permanently' from West to East.