THE: Three German universities among top 50 in the world

Three German universities have been named among the top 50 in the world, according to the latest Times Higher Education (THE) university ranking. But experts say the ranking should be taken with a large pinch of salt.

TUM named 27th best university in the world

The Times Higher Education 2026 university ranking has named the Technical University Munich (TUM) as the 27th best university in the world. Two other German universities made it into the top 50, Ludwig Maximilians University (LMU) in 34th place and Heidelberg in 49th place.

The 2026 THE ranking assessed more than 2.191 universities across 115 countries and territories worldwide. The UK publication assesses universities based on performance in five areas: teaching, research environment, research quality, international outlook and industry.

The University of Oxford retained the top spot for the tenth consecutive year, followed by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in second place and Princeton University and the University of Cambridge tied in third place.

Prospective students should be sceptical of university rankings, say experts

While prospective students may use university rankings to help them decide which institutions to apply to, those who have researched the university rankings industry urge readers to take the rankings with a heavy dose of scepticism.

The first global university rankings were published in 2003, but the number of publishers has exploded in the past 20 years, with the most influential rankings run by four companies. What’s in it for them? 

According to the United Nations University (UNU), these companies “collect vast amounts of data from universities and publicly accessible sources, which they then privatise in order to market them to universities, governments, and other interested parties in the form of performance analytics”. 

“Recent research suggests that universities that buy products and services from QS and THE may have better chances of moving up in those rankings,” the UNU explains. Speaking to SPIEGEL in 2022, Gero Federkeil of Centre for Higher Education Development (Centrum für Hochschulentwicklung) explained that the QS and THE assessments “say nothing about the actual quality of universities” and that “it remains unclear which experts are asked” to compile the ranking.

Jelena Brankovic, a researcher at the University of Bielefeld whose expertise includes the university ranking industry, agrees students should “approach [rankings] with a healthy dose of scepticism”. Students “should never rely only on one source of information, such as a ranking, but should try to cast a wide net,” Brankovic told IamExpat. Instead, they should “compare information from various sources, discuss with peers and parents, and assess this against their own preferences”.

THE University Ranking 2026

So, to be taken with a “heavy dose of scepticism”, these are the top 10 universities in the world according to the THE ranking 2026:

• 1. University of Oxford
• 2. Massachusetts Institute of Technology
• =3. Princeton University
• =3. University of Cambridge
• =5. Harvard University
• =5. Stanford University
• 7. California Institute of Technology
• 8. Imperial College
• 9. University of California, Berkeley
• 10. Yale University

For the full 2026 THE university ranking, visit the Times Higher Education website.