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National University of Singapore ranks eighth in the world and 1st in Asia, followed closely by the University of Hong Kong in 11th place.
The QS World University Rankings 2026 have been released, and once again, Asian universities are making a strong showing. More institutions from the region are featured in the top 100.
The rankings, compiled by Quacquarelli Symonds (QS), evaluate universities worldwide on key measures that matter to students, employers, and the research community.
How are the rankings calculated?
The QS World University Rankings use a structured framework based on five performance lenses, each with specific indicators and weightings:
- Research and discovery (50%): Includes academic reputation (30%) and research impact measured by citations per faculty (20%).
- Employability and outcomes (20%): Captures employer reputation (15%) and graduate employment outcomes (5%).
- Global engagement (15%): Looks at international faculty (5%), global research partnerships (5%), and international student diversity as well as ratio (5%).
- Learning experience (10%): Measured through the faculty-to-student ratio.
- Sustainability (5%): Recognises universities advancing sustainability across environmental, social, and governance (ESG) areas.
Basis the above, the top Asian universities in the global top 100 are:
| Global ranking | Asian ranking | Universities |
| 8th | 1st | National University of Singapore (NUS) |
| 11th | 2nd | The University of Hong Kong |
| 12th | 3rd | Nanyang Technological University, Singapore (NTU Singapore) |
| 14th | 4th | Peking University |
| 17th | 5th | Tsinghua University |
| 30th | 6th | Fudan University |
| 32nd | 7th | The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) |
| 36th | 8th | The University of Tokyo |
| 38th | 9th | Seoul National University |
| 44th | 10th | The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology |
| 47th | 11th | Shanghai Jiao Tong University |
| 49th | 12th | Zhejiang University |
| 50th | 13th | Yonsei University |
| 54th | 14th | The Hong Kong Polytechnic University |
| 57th | 15th | Kyoto University |
| 58th | 16th | Universiti Malaya (UM) |
| 61st | 17th | Korea University |
| 63rd | 18th | City University of Hong Kong (CityUHK) |
| 63rd | 19th | National Taiwan University (NTU) |
| 67th | 20th | KFUPM |
| 85th | 20th | Tokyo Institute of Technology (Tokyo Tech) |
| 91st | 21st | Osaka University |
Globally, the top 20 ranking featured universities from the US, UK, Australia, China, Singapore, and Hong Kong:
| Global ranking | Universities |
| 1st | Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) |
| 2nd | Imperial College London |
| 3rd | Stanford University |
| 4th | University of Oxford |
| 5th | Harvard University |
| 6th | University of Cambridge |
| 7th | ETH Zurich |
| 8th | National University of Singapore (NUS) |
| 9th | UCL |
| 10th | California Institute of Technology (Caltech) |
| 11th | The University of Hong Kong |
| 12th | Nanyang Technological University, Singapore (NTU Singapore) |
| 13th | University of Chicago |
| 14th | Peking University |
| 15th | University of Pennsylvania |
| 16th | Cornell University |
| 17th | Tsinghua University |
| 17th | University of California, Berkeley (UCB) |
| 19th | The University of Melbourne |
| 20th | The University of New South Wales (UNSW Sydney) |
Find out the full global university rankings here.
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