Out Now: QS World University Rankings 2021

Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) has been named as the world's best university for a record-breaking ninth successive year in the QS World University Rankings 2021.

Released today, the QS World University Rankings 2021 feature 1,000 of the world's top universities from across the world. This year, 47 universities are included for the first time ever.

The big story in this year's rankings is the performance of Asian universities, with 26 featuring in the top 100 - more than ever before.

On the other side of the world, American universities are struggling. Despite being well-represented towards the top of the table, 112 of the 153 American universities in this year's rankings have performed worse than last year.

If you want to learn more about this year's rankings and how you can use university rankings in your university search, join our colleagues from QS Leap this Thursday.

How to use QS World University Rankings

Learn how to get the most out of the QS World University Rankings at an exclusive online meet-up hosted by QS Leap on Thursday June 11. This event (similar to a webinar but more informal) will look at how you can use the rankings to get started on your university search, what the different rankings indicators actually mean and how you should interpret them and use them in your own decision-making. 

Click here to join QS Leap's Community Leader this Thursday to develop your skills and gain help with navigating your academic interests.

Learn more about this year's rankings

Want to learn more about this year's results? As well as looking at which universities have been ranked as the best in the world, we've also put together separate breakdowns for different locations and regions, including Canada, Australia, London, Germany, Paris, Africa, France, and Scotland. We've also tried to answer some of your frequently asked questions about the rankings here.

Finally, we know this year’s rankings are launched at a challenging time for the whole world, with COVID-19 impacting universities and students alike. For the latest information on COVID-19 for students, please visit our dedicated COVID-19 page. We are also contacting universities to learn more about how the pandemic is impacting applications, and this information can be found on our COVID-19 admissions page.