QS Top 50 Under 50 2021

Updated September 25, 2024 Updated September 25

Nanyang Technological University continues to be the top young university in the world according to the QS Top 50 Under 50, a table exclusively for the world's younger academic institutions.

First published in 2012, the QS Top 50 Under 50 ranks the best universities in the world which are under 50 years old, allowing some of the world's top young universities to shine. Since 2015, it has tripled its range to include the Next 100 Under 50.

Unlike other university rankings, the Top 50 Under 50 and the Next 100 Under 50 see a vast amount of change each year, as universities drop out of the list after they pass the 50-year marker. So, if you can't find an institution in this year's list, it might be because it's now older than 50 years.

QS Top 50 Under 50 2021
2021	WUR Rank 2021	Institution	Location
1	13	Nanyang Technological University (NTU)	Singapore
2	=27	The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST)	Hong Kong SAR
3	39	KAIST - Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology	South Korea
4	48	City University of Hong Kong	Hong Kong SAR
5	52	Universit é PSL (Paris Sciences & Lettres)	France
6	75	The Hong Kong Polytechnic University	Hong Kong SAR
7	=77	Pohang University of Science and Technology (POSTECH)	South Korea
8	83	Sorbonne University	France
9	127	Aalto University	Finland
10	132	Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM)	Malaysia
11	=133	University of Technology Sydney (UTS)	Australia
12	138	CentraleSup élec	France
13	=187	Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM)	Malaysia
14	196	University of Wollongong	Australia
15	=211	Khalifa University	United Arab Emirates
16	=217	Queensland University of Technology (QUT)	Australia
17	=217	Curtin University	Australia
18	=223	RMIT University	Australia
19	=234	Maastricht University	Netherlands
20	=238	University of Antwerp	Belgium
21	245	Qatar University	Qatar
22	=254	Universiti Brunei Darussalam (UBD)	Brunei
23	264	Hong Kong Baptist University (HKBU)	Hong Kong SAR
24	=265	University of Tsukuba	Japan
25	=267	National Taiwan University of Science and Technology	Taiwan
=26	=275	Deakin University	Australia
=26	=275	University of Paris	France
27	284	United Arab Emirates University	United Arab Emirates
28	=287	Universitat Pompeu Fabra	Spain
29	=295	University of South Australia (UniSA)	Australia
30	=295	Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology (GIST)	South Korea
31	=298	National Research University - Higher School of Economics (HSE)	Russia
32	=298	National Yang Ming University	Taiwan
33	=303	Griffith University	Australia
34	=305	Aalborg University	Denmark
35	=311	Universidad Carlos III de Madrid	Spain
36	=314	Universitat Polit ècnica de Catalunya	Spain
37	327	IE University	Spain
38	=342	Universit é Grenoble-Alpes (UGA)	France
39	=348	American University of Sharjah	United Arab Emirates
40	=350	Universiti Teknologi Brunei	Brunei
41	355	National University of Sciences and Technology (NUST) Islamabad	Pakistan
42	=357	University of Lisbon	Portugal
43	=357	L.N. Gumilyov Eurasian National University	Kazakhstan
44	367	University of Macau	Macau SAR
45	372	Swinburne University of Technology	Australia
46	=373	Pakistan Institute of Engineering and Applied Sciences (PIEAS)	Pakistan
47	=375	Sultan Qaboos University	Oman
48	=377	Universidad de Palermo	Argentina
49	379	Taylor's University	Malaysia
50	=383	Oxford Brookes University	United Kingdom
51-60	=387	Shanghai University	China (Mainland)
51-60	391	UCSI University	Malaysia
51-60	=392	Università Vita-Salute San Raffaele	Italy
51-60	=398	Universit é de Strasbourg	France
51-60	=409	Tampere University	Finland
51-60	=414	Bond University	Australia
51-60	=416	National Sun Yat-sen University	Taiwan
51-60	425	Universit é de Bordeaux	France
51-60	=428	Universidade Nova de Lisboa	Portugal
51-60	=437	Auckland University of Technology	New Zealand
61-70	=439	Dublin City University (DCU)	Ireland
61-70	=439	Universiti Teknologi Petronas (Petronas)	Malaysia
61-70	=439	University of Johannesburg	South Africa
61-70	=443	Universidad Austral	Argentina
61-70	=451	Universidad Polit écnica de Madrid	Spain
61-70	=456	University of Canberra	Australia
61-70	=465	Ko ç University	Turkey
61-70	=470	Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati (IITG)	India
61-70	=474	Western Sydney University	Australia
61-70	=477	Concordia University	Canada
71-80	492	Universidad de Montevideo	Uruguay
71-80	=493	Universidade Estadual Paulista "J úlio de Mesquita Filho"	Brazil
71-80	=493	Chang Gung University	Taiwan
71-80	=499	University of Eastern Finland	Finland
71-80	=499	Universidad de Alcal á	Spain
71-80	501-510	University of Balamand	Lebanon
71-80	511-520	Universit é Aix-Marseille	France
71-80	511-520	Universit á degli Studi di Roma - Tor Vergata	Italy
71-80	511-520	Universit é de Montpellier	France
71-80	511-520	University of Limerick (UL)	Ireland
81-90	511-520	Singapore Management University	Singapore
81-90	521-530	University of Milano-Bicocca	Italy
81-90	521-530	Sabanci University	Turkey
81-90	521-530	Universit ät Bayreuth	Germany
81-90	521-530	Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University (IAU) (formerly University of Dammam)	Saudi Arabia
81-90	531-540	Universiti Utara Malaysia (UUM)	Malaysia
81-90	541-550	Universit ät Bremen	Germany
81-90	541-550	Coventry University	United Kingdom
81-90	551-560	Bilkent University	Turkey
81-90	551-560	Management and Science University	Malaysia
91-100	551-560	Ajou University	South Korea
91-100	551-560	Victoria University	Australia
91-100	551-560	Hallym University	South Korea
91-100	571-580	Murdoch University	Australia
91-100	571-580	Altai State University	Russia
91-100	581-590	Kingston University, London	United Kingdom
91-100	581-590	University of Aveiro	Portugal
91-100	591-600	Central Queensland University	Australia
91-100	601-650	International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM)	Malaysia
91-100	601-650	University of C ôte d'Azur	France
101-150	601-650	University of Sharjah	United Arab Emirates
101-150	601-650	Universitat Ramon Llull	Spain
101-150	601-650	Ulster University	United Kingdom
101-150	601-650	University of Portsmouth	United Kingdom
101-150	601-650	King Khalid University	Saudi Arabia
101-150	601-650	American University in Dubai	United Arab Emirates
101-150	601-650	Shenzhen University	China (Mainland)
101-150	601-650	Indian Institute of Technology Hyderabad	India
101-150	651-700	Jordan University of Science and Technology	Jordan
101-150	651-700	Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS)	Pakistan
101-150	651-700	University of Hyderabad	India
101-150	651-700	Universidad Torcuato Di Tella	Argentina
101-150	651-700	Applied Science University of Bahrain	Bahrain
101-150	651-700	Edith Cowan University (ECU)	Australia
101-150	651-700	O. P. Jindal Global University	India
101-150	651-700	Central South University	China (Mainland)
101-150	651-700	University of Mons	Belgium
101-150	651-700	Universidad ICESI	Colombia
101-150	701-750	Zayed University	United Arab Emirates
101-150	701-750	Maynooth University	Ireland
101-150	701-750	University of Huddersfield	United Kingdom
101-150	701-750	Universiti Tenaga Nasional (UNITEN)	Malaysia
101-150	701-750	Abu Dhabi University	United Arab Emirates
101-150	701-750	Ajman University	United Arab Emirates
101-150	701-750	Middlesex University	United Kingdom
101-150	701-750	Universidad de San Andr és	Argentina
101-150	701-750	Sunway University	Malaysia
101-150	701-750	Notre Dame University-Louaize (NDU)	Lebanon
101-150	701-750	Charles Darwin University	Australia
101-150	701-750	University of Greenwich	United Kingdom
101-150	701-750	Macau University of Science and Technology	Macau SAR
101-150	701-750	Sumy State University	Ukraine
101-150	751-800	Universit é de Lille	France
101-150	751-800	Universidad de La Sabana	Colombia
101-150	751-800	Universit ät Duisburg-Essen	Germany
101-150	751-800	Universiti Malaysia Pahang (UMP)	Malaysia
101-150	751-800	Kazakh-British Technical University	Kazakhstan
101-150	751-800	Universidad de San Francisco de Quito	Ecuador
101-150	751-800	Nottingham Trent University	United Kingdom
101-150	751-800	NJSC KIMEP University	Kazakhstan
101-150	751-800	Rovira i Virgili University	Spain
101-150	751-800	Prince Mohammad Bin Fahd University	Saudi Arabia
101-150	751-800	Bournemouth University	United Kingdom
101-150	751-800	University of Brescia	Italy
101-150	751-800	Southern Cross University	Australia
101-150	751-800	London South Bank University	United Kingdom
101-150	801-1000	Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana (UAM)	Mexico
101-150	801-1000	Vietnam National University - Ho Chi Minh City (VNU-HCM)	Vietnam
101-150	801-1000	Università degli Studi Roma Tre	Italy
101-150	801-1000	Vietnam National University, Hanoi	Vietnam

To request feedback or learn more about our rankings, please contact our team at rankings@qs.com.

This article was originally published in July 2020 . It was last updated in September 2024

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QS Top 50 Under 50 2021