Best European Universities by Times Higher Education 2026| ��ƽ��

Top European Universities as ranked by Times Higher Education 2026

Characteristic	Times Higher Education score
University of Oxford (UK)	98.2
University of Cambridge (UK)	97.2
Imperial College London (UK)	94.7
ETH Zürich – Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zürich (CH)	93.1
UCL (UK)	87.5
TU Munich (DE)	83.4
University of Edinburgh (UK)	82.5
LMU Munich (DE)	79.7
École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (CH)	79.6
King's College London (UK)	78.7
KU Leuven (BE)	76.8
Paris Sciences et Lettres – PSL Research University Paris (FR)	76.5
University of Heidelberg (DE)	76.3
London School of Economics and Political Science (UK)	75.4
Karolinska Institute (SE)	75
University of Manchester (UK)	74.9
Delft University of Technology (NL)	74.3
University of Amsterdam (NL)	73.7
Wageningen University & Research (NL)	72.2
Université Paris-Saclay (FR)	73.4

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Release date

February 2026

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Region

Europe

Survey time period

2026

Supplementary notes

Only European Universities are depicted.

To calculate the rankings, the following criteria were considered:
Teaching (29.5%) — the learning environment;
Research environment (29%) – volume income and reputation;
Research quality (30%) – research influence;
Industry (4%) – industry income and patents;
International Outlook (7.5%) staff, students, and research.

More information about the methodology .

Citation formats

The highest-ranked European university in 2026, according to Times Higher Education (THE), is the University of Oxford with a score of 98.2 out of 100, followed by the University of Cambridge and Imperial College London. The University of Oxford is, at the same time, the best higher education institution worldwide. Of the top-20 universities in the rankings, eight were in the United Kingdom, with three in Germany and the Netherlands, two in Switzerland and France, and one each in Belgium and Sweden.