The QS World University Rankings, the most comprehensive ranking of its kind, shines a light on the best institutions from across the world, supporting our mission of enabling motivated people anywhere in the world to fulfil their potential through educational achievement, international mobility, and career development.
The rankings are compiled by our data analysts in partnership with tens of thousands of higher education institutions. They incorporate datapoints from 16.4 million academic papers as well as the views of more than 151,000 academics and 100,000 employers.
Each of the QS rankings are compiled using a core methodology that employs a range of vital factors including student experience, university partnerships, research activity and faculty qualifications.
All of our data is based on high-quality research and innovative analytic approaches. The QS rankings provide methodical evaluations of key areas in higher education institutions, ultimately offering potential students expert advice that’s proven to align them with their chosen path.
2026 Ranking Cycle - Changes
International Student Diversity
For the 2026 World University Rankings (published in 2025) International Student Diversity (ISD) will be introduced as an unweighted indicator.
The International Student Diversity indicator looks at the ratio of international students to overall students as well as the diversity of nationalities that those students are from.
The indicator is an evolution of the International Student Ratio (ISR) indicator, with the aim of measuring not only the size of an institution's international student body, but also how successful the institution is at attracting students from a wide range of different countries and backgrounds.
PLEASE NOTE: International Student Ratio will remain a weighted indicator in the 2026 rankings.
Inclusion criteria
To be eligible for the inclusion in the World University Rankings in 2026, institutions in the following regions - Arab Region, Asia, Europe, Latin America and Caribbean will need to be ranked in their respective region's ranking.
This has changed from the previous requirement for an institution to be ranked in the top 50% in their regional ranking.
Key Dates
Research for the World University Rankings begins in September and the Rankings are published in June.
Data Collection
| Date Starts | Date Ends | |
| Survey Contacts Submission | September 2024 | 31 January 2025 |
| Academic Survey | September 2024 | March/April 2025 |
| Employer Survey | September 2024 | March/April 2025 |
| Institution Data | November 2024 | 12 February 2025 |
| Sustainability Data | February 2024 | 15 April 2025 |
Methodology
In each of our rankings we use a range of measurements as part of our methodology. These can be split into three broad groups.
Each ranking is made up of a different group of measurements, with some being used across several rankings and others unique to one project.
Lens
A group of Indicators which are related to the same theme.
Indicator
A measurement of one aspect of an institution’s performance. Institutions are scored and ranked within indicators and those indicator scores contribute to its overall rank and score.
Metric
A more specific calculation that forms part of an Indicator.
Lens and indicators
Below you can find the weightings for each performance lens and indicator in this ranking. Weightings are reviewed on an annual basis. Click on each lens or indicator for more detailed information.
| Lens | Weighting | Indicator | Weighting |
| Research and Discovery | 50% | Academic Reputation | 30% |
| Citations per Faculty | 20% | ||
| Employability and Outcomes | 20% | Employer Reputation | 15% |
| Employment Outcomes | 5% | ||
| Global Engagement | 15% | International Faculty Ratio | 5% |
| International Research Network | 5% | ||
| International Student Diversity | 0% | ||
| International Student Ratio | 5% | ||
| Learning Experience | 10% | Faculty Student Ratio | 10% |
| Sustainability | 5% | Sustainability | 5% |
Eligibility and Inclusion
Not all higher education institutions are eligible for our rankings, and not all eligible institutions are ranked. Below you can find the criteria for institutions. If you are unsure whether your institution is eligible, please contact us.
Eligibility
To be eligible for the World University Rankings an institution must:
- Offer full-degree programmes at BOTH undergraduate and postgraduate level
- Offer full-degree programmes in at least TWO faculty areas
- Offer full degree programmes in at least TWO subjects in each faculty area
- Have at least THREE graduated classes in each subject
- Deliver all or part of each programme on campus
Inclusion
To be included in the World University Rankings an institution must:
- Be in the top 20% of institutions globally for Academic Reputation
- Have at least 100 papers indexed and published by Scopus over a five-year period
- Be ranked in its respective regional ranking (Asia, Arab Region, Europe and Latin America and the Caribbean only)
Small Institutions
If an institution has fewer than 5000 students at least one of the below must be true:
- Be in the top 1000 globally for Academic Reputation, Employer Reputation, Citations per Faculty
- Be in the top 900 in two of the above
- Be in the top 800 for one of the above
Data Submissions
All institutions can submit data for the rankings. This data is important in ensuring our rankings are as accurate as possible.
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.
Submission Platform
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.
If you would like your institution to be considered for inclusion in the Rankings and your institution has not received a submission email, please contact: rankings@qs.com.
Data Reporting Period
For the majority of the data we request, the reporting period should cover the academic year previous to our rankings cycle.
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.
