QS Europe 2026: Oxford university regains first place; UK best performer in top ten

The University of Oxford has won back first place in the QS Europe ranking for 2026, after briefly losing it to ETH Zurich in 2025 and falling to third. The Swiss institution ranks second this year, followed by Imperial College London and University College London, who are in joint place.

According to the 2026 ranking published on 27/01/2026 by Quacquarelli Symonds, a global higher education analyst, of the 958 European institutions from 42 countries ranked, the United Kingdom has the most universities ranked, with 129, followed by Turkey (107), Germany (102), Italy (65) and Spain (62). Germany is making the most progress, with 49 more universities than in 2025.

The UK is again most present in the top ten, with seven of their universities featuring. The university making the biggest progress is Baku Engineering University in Azerbaijan, which has moved up 96 places, from 491 to 395 in 2026. The university losing the most ranks is Ivane Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University in Georgia, which dropped 90 places, from 406 to 496 in 2026.

Methodology

This ranking concerns the member…