Ranked: The 100 Best Universities Outside the U.S. for 2027

Which Universities Lead the World Outside the U.S.?

The United Kingdom dominates the top of the university rankings outside the United States, with Oxford, Cambridge, and Imperial College London taking the first three spots.

Meanwhile, universities in China and Singapore are strengthening their positions among the world’s elite, reflecting Asia’s growing presence in global higher education.

This visualization highlights the top 50 universities outside the U.S., while the accompanying table covers the top 100, using data from Times Higher Education’s World University Rankings 2027.

Which Universities Rank Highest Outside the U.S.?

The University of Oxford leads the ranking with an overall score of 97.9 out of 100, followed by Cambridge at 96.9 and Imperial College London at 95.2.

The table below shows the leading universities outside the U.S., along with their overall scores. Universities with identical scores share the same rank, and the next rank is skipped accordingly. As a result, the list includes 101 institutions, with three tied at No. 99.

Rank	University	Country / territory	Overall score
1	University of Oxford	United Kingdom	97.9
2	University of Cambridge	United Kingdom	96.9
3	Imperial College London	United Kingdom	95.2
4	Tsinghua University	China	93.9
5	ETH Zurich	Switzerland	93.6
6	Peking University	China	92.8
7	National University of Singapore	Singapore	91.1
8	UCL	United Kingdom	90.3
9	University of Toronto	Canada	89.1
10	Technical University of Munich	Germany	85.1
11	The University of Tokyo	Japan	84.3
12	Nanyang Technological University, Singapore	Singapore	84.0
13	University of Edinburgh	United Kingdom	83.5
14	University of Hong Kong	Hong Kong	82.6
15	University of Melbourne	Australia	80.9
15	Zhejiang University	China	80.9
17	École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne	Switzerland	80.5
18	Fudan University	China	80.2
19	Shanghai Jiao Tong University	China	80.0
20	King’s College London	United Kingdom	79.3
21	LMU Munich	Germany	78.7
22	The Chinese University of Hong Kong	Hong Kong	77.8
23	McGill University	Canada	77.7
24	University of British Columbia	Canada	77.6
25	KU Leuven	Belgium	77.5
25	Universität Heidelberg	Germany	77.5
27	London School of Economics and Political Science	United Kingdom	77.3
28	Delft University of Technology	Netherlands	76.5
29	The University of Sydney	Australia	76.3
29	University of Science and Technology of China	China	76.3
31	Karolinska Institute	Sweden	75.9
32	Seoul National University	South Korea	75.6
33	Paris Sciences et Lettres – PSL Research University Paris	France	75.5
34	The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology	Hong Kong	75.4
35	Nanjing University	China	75.2
36	University of Manchester	United Kingdom	74.8
37	Monash University	Australia	74.7
38	Kyoto University	Japan	74.6
38	University of Amsterdam	Netherlands	74.6
40	Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST)	South Korea	73.6
41	Wageningen University & Research	Netherlands	72.9
42	Sungkyunkwan University (SKKU)	South Korea	72.7
43	Leiden University	Netherlands	72.6
44	City University of Hong Kong	Hong Kong	72.3
45	The University of Queensland	Australia	71.2
46	Institut Polytechnique de Paris	France	71.1
46	UNSW Sydney	Australia	71.1
48	Australian National University	Australia	71.0
49	Université Paris-Saclay	France	70.9
50	The Hong Kong Polytechnic University	Hong Kong	70.7
51	Yonsei University (Seoul campus)	South Korea	70.6
52	University of Copenhagen	Denmark	70.2
53	University of Bristol	United Kingdom	70.1
54	University of Glasgow	United Kingdom	69.9
55	University of Groningen	Netherlands	69.1
56	University of Bonn	Germany	67.8
57	RWTH Aachen University	Germany	67.7
58	Humboldt University of Berlin	Germany	67.6
59	Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin	Germany	67.0
60	University of Vienna	Austria	66.9
61	Harbin Institute of Technology	China	66.8
62	Aarhus University	Denmark	66.6
62	University of Birmingham	United Kingdom	66.6
64	University of Tübingen	Germany	66.5
65	Lund University	Sweden	66.4
65	University of Sheffield	United Kingdom	66.4
67	KTH Royal Institute of Technology	Sweden	66.3
67	Tohoku University	Japan	66.3
69	Erasmus University Rotterdam	Netherlands	66.0
70	Technical University of Denmark	Denmark	65.9
71	University of Basel	Switzerland	65.6
71	University of Bologna	Italy	65.6
73	Free University of Berlin	Germany	65.5
73	University of Leeds	United Kingdom	65.5
73	University of Warwick	United Kingdom	65.5
76	Ghent University	Belgium	65.4
76	McMaster University	Canada	65.4
78	University of Alberta	Canada	65.3
78	University of Helsinki	Finland	65.3
78	University of Oslo	Norway	65.3
81	University of Bern	Switzerland	65.2
81	Wuhan University	China	65.2
83	Tongji University	China	64.9
84	Beijing Normal University	China	64.8
85	Hamad Bin Khalifa University	Qatar	64.5
85	National Taiwan University (NTU)	Taiwan	64.5
87	Korea University	South Korea	64.4
88	Queen Mary University of London	United Kingdom	64.2
88	University of Hamburg	Germany	64.2
88	University of Lausanne	Switzerland	64.2
91	Université de Montréal	Canada	63.9
92	Maastricht University	Netherlands	63.8
92	University of Göttingen	Germany	63.8
92	Uppsala University	Sweden	63.8
95	University of Southampton	United Kingdom	63.2
96	University of Freiburg	Germany	63.0
97	Adelaide University	Australia	62.9
97	University of São Paulo	Brazil	62.9
99	Karlsruhe Institute of Technology	Germany	62.7
99	Pohang University of Science and Technology (POSTECH)	South Korea	62.7
99	University of Barcelona	Spain	62.7

China’s Tsinghua University ranks fourth with a score of 93.9, while Switzerland’s ETH Zurich rounds out the top five at 93.6. Canada’s University of Toronto ranks ninth, and Germany’s Technical University of Munich completes the top 10.

These positions are based on the global rankings after removing U.S. institutions, so they differ from the universities’ positions in the complete worldwide list.

Oxford Leads the Ranking for an 11th Straight Year

Oxford takes the top spot among universities outside the U.S., followed by Cambridge and Imperial College London.

The British university has also held the No. 1 position in Times Higher Education’s global rankings for 11 consecutive years, the longest streak in the ranking’s history. Its lead over MIT, which ranked as America’s best college, was just 0.1 points in 2027.

The UK’s strength extends beyond the top three. University College London ranks eighth on this list, giving the country four universities among the top 10 outside the United States.

China Leads Asia’s Top Universities

China’s Tsinghua University ranks fourth outside the U.S., ahead of Switzerland’s ETH Zurich in fifth. It is the highest-ranked Asian university on the list, followed by Peking University in sixth.

Tsinghua’s rise marks a milestone: for the first time, an Asian university has overtaken every institution in continental Europe in Times Higher Education’s global rankings.

China’s broader progress is also significant. The country now has 17 universities in the global top 200, up from 13 last year, with most of those institutions improving their positions.

Singapore Places Two Universities Among the Top 12

Singapore, a country of roughly six million people, has two universities among the 12 highest-ranked institutions outside of America.

The National University of Singapore ranks seventh, while Nanyang Technological University places 12th. Both institutions have strengthened their positions in the global rankings, benefiting from improvements in their academic reputations, according to Times Higher Education.

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