World University Rankings 2025: nurturing excellence in times of uncertainty

Browse the full results of the World University Rankings 2025

“Our goal is to find students from the broadest swath of society who are excelling where they are and bring them in and give them the tools to learn how to think, not what to think, to learn to have dialogue across differences, to learn to get help when they need it and to think about their own mental health. And then go out and lead the world.”

These words from Sian Beilock, president of Dartmouth College, quoted in one of the features in our World University Rankings 2025 digital report, encompass her goal as leader of the Ivy League institution.

The Times Higher Education World University Rankings have a similar aim: to find universities from the broadest range of countries and communities who are excelling where they are and bring them in, to give them the tools to learn how to improve, not what to improve, to have collaborations across differences, and then to go out and – with their own missions and priorities in mind – lead the world.

When it comes to breadth, this year THE has welcomed more than 2,000 universities for the first time. A total of 2,092 institutions, from a record 115 territories, feature in the 21st edition of the ranking, representing around 10 per cent of the 20,000 or so higher education institutions across the globe.

In terms of performance, the UK’s University of Oxford still leads the pack, clocking the longest reign in the history of the table, but the US has a new number one – an institution that has improved on every single metric over the past 10 years.

On collaborations, Ukrainian universities are showing what is possible when it comes to global links, even in a war-torn country, with internationally co-authored papers rising significantly. Academics highlight the breadth of these partnerships, which reach students, scholars and administrative staff, in one of our data stories.  

And on leading the world, vice-chancellors at some of the top universities in Australia, India, the Netherlands, the UK and the US tell us how they are solving common strategic issues and implementing change – from responding to national crackdowns on internationalisation, funding crises and student protests, to working with industry and devising more agile strategic plans.

These insights are ever more valuable in an unstable world, and an unstable higher education landscape, which, as we explore, is undergoing particularly high levels of leadership turnover.

But one takeaway from that analysis, which chimes with Beilock’s outlook, is what a privilege it is to lead a university, even – and possibly especially – in trying times.  

“The amount of intellectual stimulation you get from being not just in your department, but really exposing yourself to a wide variety of disciplines. The joy you get from raising resources to support research, teaching and student activities that are transformative. That’s even more fun than publishing in a top journal in my experience,” says Morton Schapiro, formerly president of Northwestern University. “You really feel good that you’re moving things along, you’re empowering voices that don’t always get heard.”

ellie.bothwell@timeshighereducation.com

Countries/territories represented in the top 200