University of Oxford Tops the Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2018

University of Oxford Tops the Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2018

Craig OCallaghan

Updated November 30, 2023 Updated November 30

The University of Oxford has been crowned the best university in the world in the Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2018.

It’s the second year the UK institution has been named number one, with close rivals the University of Cambridge rising two places this year to be ranked second.

The rest of the top 10 in the THE World University Rankings 2018 is dominated by American universities, with seven featuring in total. Of these, only two have improved upon their performance since last year, with the University of Chicago rising one place to ninth and the University of Pennsylvania squeezing into the top 10, up three places since last year.

The release of the Times Higher Education World University Rankings follows on the heels of the QS World University Rankings 2018 and the latest edition of the ‘Shanghai’ ranking which were published earlier this year. Collectively, these three world university rankings are seen as the most prestigious global comparison of universities.

Louise Richardson, Oxford’s vice-chancellor, told THE she was “delighted that Oxford has held its position at the top of these global rankings.”

Elsewhere in the world, the top university in Asia according to THE’s ranking is the National University of Singapore, ranked joint 22nd in the world.

The top 10 in this year’s Times Higher Education World University Rankings can be found below.

THE World University Rankings 2018

1

University of Oxford

UK

2

University of Cambridge

UK

=3

California Institute of Technology (Caltech)

US

=3

Stanford University

US

5

Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)

US

6

Harvard University

US

7

Princeton University

US

8

Imperial College London

UK

9

University of Chicago

US

=10

ETH Zurich – Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich

Switzerland

=10

University of Pennsylvania

US

This article was originally published in September 2017 . It was last updated in January 2020

Written by

As editor of TopUniversities.com, Craig oversees the site's editorial content and network of student contributors. He also plays a key editorial role in the publication of several guides and reports, including the QS Top Grad School Guide.

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