The QS Rankings Cycle has arrived for 2027, beginning with our data collection cycle, which begins in September and runs through to April.
All data collected during this cycle will be used to produce the following rankings:
- QS World University Rankings
- QS Regional Rankings
- QS World University Rankings: Sustainability
- QS World University Rankings by Subject
PLEASE NOTE: Our Graduate Management Education Rankings (GME) cycle is separate.
Key Dates - Data Collection
Data Collection
| Date Starts | Date Ends | |
| Survey Contacts Submission | 15 September 2025 | 31 January 2026 |
| Academic Survey | November 2025 | Early March 2026 |
| Employer Survey | November 2025 | Early March 2026 |
| Institution Data | 15 September 2025 | 12 February 2026 |
| Sustainability Data | 5 January 2026 | 15 April 2026 |
If you are a new institution submitting institutional data for the first time, we advise you to submit your data by 31 December 2025 to ensure that your institution can be evaluated for the 2027 cycle.
Data Types
Survey Contacts Submission
QS invites institutions to supply both academic and employer contacts who will be sent the relevant survey as part of our research process. For more information please see our Submission Procedure.
Academic Survey
The Academic Survey informs the Academic Reputation indicators that are used in the QS Rankings. The survey is sent to contacts provided through the Survey Contacts submission process and other sources including previous respondents and contacts from our Sign-up Facility.
Employer Survey
The Employer Survey informs the employer reputation indicators that are used in the QS Rankings. The survey is sent to contacts provided through the Survey Contacts submission process and other sources including previous respondents and contacts from our Sign-up Facility.
Institution Data
QS invites institutions to submit data to support our research, this includes: staff and student numbers; fee information; and subject data. Data is submitted via QS HUB.
Submitting data is the best way to ensure that the data we hold on your institution and use for the rankings is accurate.
Unfortunately we are not able to provide extensions, so please let us know if you need any help or clarification to complete the process in time.
Sustainability Data
For the QS Sustainability Rankings we collect additional data from institutions relating to Environmental Impact, Social Impact and Governance. Data is submitted via QS HUB.
Key Dates - Publication
Publication
| Publication Date | |
| QS World University Rankings by Subject 2026* | March/April 2026* |
| QS World University Rankings | June 2026 |
| QS Regional Rankings | July-October 2026 |
| QS World University Rankings: Sustainability | November 2026 |
| QS World University Rankings by Subject 2027 | March/April 2027 |
For the exact dates of all our ranking launches please refer to our ranking calendar.
*Please note that the Subject Rankings are the last project in the cycle so the 2026 edition will be published in 2026.
Data Submission
All institutions can submit data for the rankings. This data is important in ensuring our rankings are as accurate as possible.
You should submit data for your institution through our QS HUB platform. Please contact our Institution Support Team via our helpdesk if you do not have login details, or need further support.
Our rankings are not opt-in/opt-out, so it is in an institution's best interest to ensure that we reflect them accurately by submitting their data.
Where we don’t have data submitted by an institution, we feature them on the strength of proprietary and publicly available or previously supplied data. Our rankings are designed with this in mind.
Data Reporting Period
For the majority of the data we request, the reporting period should cover the academic year previous to our rankings cycle. E.g. if the cycle begins in November 2025, we are collecting data for the 2024 academic year.
This will be approximately January to December for the Southern Hemisphere, and August to July for the Northern Hemisphere.
There are exceptions to this, so please refer to our data dictionary if you are unsure.
Methodology
Details on our methodologies and indicators can be found at support.qs.com.
We endeavour to provide six months’ notice to institutions when a change is made to our methodology, as well as updating any changes on our support site.
Eligibility and Inclusion
If your university meets our Eligibility Criteria, then your institution may be evaluated for inclusion in the following rankings:
- QS World University Rankings
- QS Regional Rankings
- QS World University Rankings: Sustainability
- QS World University Rankings by Subject
The inclusion in any published ranking is dependent on university performance and that they are operational at the time of the ranking’s publication.
The submission of data does not guarantee that an institution will be ranked in any QS published rankings. Please refer to the individual rankings pages to find out more details.
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