These are the world's 30 best universities for 2027

An aerial view of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the U.S. Photo courtesy of MIT

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology is the world's best university for 2027, topping QS's global rankings for a 15th straight year.

QS released the 2027 edition on June 18, assessing 1,504 universities across 106 countries and territories. Behind MIT, Imperial College London and Stanford University tied for second, followed by Oxford in fourth and Harvard in fifth.

The U.S. and U.K. took eight of the top 10 places, four each, with only ETH Zurich in Switzerland and the National University of Singapore breaking through.

By sheer numbers, the U.S. led with 184 ranked universities, ahead of the U.K. with 93 and mainland China with 85.

But the sharpest movement came from Asia. Singapore now holds two of the world's top 12, with National University of Singapore 10th and Nanyang Technological University 12th, while the Chinese University of Hong Kong jumped 14 places to 18th and mainland China recorded more upward moves and more new entrants than any other country.

Here are the 30 best universities in the world for 2027, according to QS.

Rank

University

Country/territory

Score

1

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

U.S.

100

2

Imperial College London

U.K.

99.2

2

Stanford University

U.S.

99.2

4

University of Oxford

U.K.

98.6

5

Harvard University

U.S.

97.4

6

University of Cambridge

U.K.

97.1

7

California Institute of Technology

U.S.

96.6

8

ETH Zurich

Switzerland

96.3

8

University College London

U.K.

96.3

10

National University of Singapore

Singapore

96.2

11

University of Hong Kong

Hong Kong

95.9

12

Nanyang Technological University

Singapore

93.6

13

Peking University

China

92.6

14

Tsinghua University

China

92.1

15

University of Pennsylvania

U.S.

91.7

16

Cornell University

U.S.

91.5

16

Yale University

U.S.

91.5

18

Chinese University of Hong Kong

Hong Kong

89.9

19

UNSW Sydney

Australia

89.8

20

Johns Hopkins University

U.S.

89.7

20

University of California, Berkeley

U.S.

89.7

22

EPFL

Switzerland

89.6

22

University of Melbourne

Australia

89.6

24

University of Chicago

U.S.

89.2

25

Technical University of Munich

Germany

89.1

26

Fudan University

China

89

27

Princeton University

U.S.

88.9

28

University of Sydney

Australia

88.4

29

Australian National University

Australia

87.6

30

McGill University

Canada

87.5

QS weights academic reputation most heavily at 30%, followed by research citations at 20% and employer reputation at 15%, with faculty resources, internationalization, employment outcomes and sustainability making up the rest.