Oxford named best university in the world for a record ninth consecutive year

Oxford University has once again topped the Times Higher Education World University Rankings in the largest and most inclusive year to date with a record 2,092 universities having been ranked from 115 countries.

Oxford has been world number one since 2017 - the longest time any university has held the position in the 21 annual editions of the rankings – nine consecutive years. Harvard University and the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) are the only other universities to have topped the rankings.

I am indebted to all of my colleagues at Oxford whose work continues to fire our imaginations, inspire generations, and confront some of the greatest challenges facing our planet

Vice-Chancellor, Professor Irene Tracey

Professor Irene Tracey, CBE, FRS, FMedSci, Vice-Chancellor, University of Oxford, said: ‘I am absolutely delighted that we have consolidated our position at the top of the Times Higher Education World University Rankings for a ninth consecutive year. This achievement is testament to our extraordinarily talented and committed academics, researchers and staff, who deliver exceptional standards of teaching and learning and conduct globally impactful research. Above all, I am indebted to all of my colleagues at Oxford whose work continues to fire our imaginations, inspire generations, and confront some of the greatest challenges facing our planet.’

Phil Baty, THE's Chief Global Affairs Officer, said: ‘The Times Higher Education World University Rankings evaluate the performance of the leading global research-intensive universities – and it is the truly global nature of Oxford’s work that has helped it to retain the world number one position for a record-breaking nine years.

‘Oxford excels across our wide range of performance indicators, covering teaching, research and industry collaboration, but it stands above its world-leading counterparts in the US for the depth of its international research collaborations and its ability to draw-in international talent. Oxford is truly a beacon for global Britain.’

International outlook

The process for the THE World Rankings is a rigorous piece of research with more than 2,800 leading research universities assessed as well as an academic survey based on over 90,000 responses worldwide. In excess of 150 million citations are also analysed to over 18 million research papers.

Oxford is truly a beacon for global Britain

Phil Baty, THE's Chief Global Affairs Officer

The ranking is based on 18 specific metrics, covering all core missions of global, research-led universities, incorporated into five ‘pillars’: research environment (including income and reputation data); research excellence; the teaching environment; international outlook (such as research collaboration); and industry (including industry income and patent citations). One of the metrics (study abroad) currently has zero weight but will be counted in future. 

Oxford is exceptionally strong across all pillars but has an advantage due to its international outlook and patent citations; an additional metric that has been introduced to the industry score.

News about the results of the rankings was announced to around 500 international guests at the World Academic Summit on the night of October 8.

Oxford was followed in the THE World Rankings 2025 by Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard University, placed second and third respectively.

View the full THE World University Rankings 2025 here.