QS World University Rankings 2026: MIT tops, Imperial College London 2nd; IIT Delhi best Indian varsity

Over 1,500 universities, representing over 100 locations worldwide, are included in the 2026 edition of the QS World University Rankings.

QS World University Rankings 2026: With an overall score of 100, Cambridge (United States)-based Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) has topped the World University Rankings 2026 announced by Quacquarelli Symonds. London's Imperial College has come second with a score of 99.4. 

QS World University Rankings 2026: MIT tops the global rankings with an overall score of 100(Getty Images/File)

Over 1,500 universities, representing over 100 locations worldwide, are included in the 2026 edition of the QS World University Rankings.

Stanford University is in third place with a score of 98.9.

Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Delhi is at the 123rd place and tops among Indian universities that have been featured in the list. IIT Bombay is at the 129th rank, and IIT Madras is at the 180th rank. These are the only three Indian varsities in the global list of top 200.

QS World University Rankings: Top 20 varsities in the world

Rank 1: Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)

Rank 2: Imperial College London

Rank 3: Stanford University

Rank 4: University of Oxford

Rank 5: Harvard University

Rank 6: University of Cambridge

Rank 7: ETH Zurich

Rank 8: National University of Singapore (NUS)

Rank 9: University College London (UCL)

Rank 10: California Institute of Technology (Caltech)

Rank 11: The University of Hong Kong

Rank 12: Nanyang Technological University, Singapore (NTU Singapore)

Rank 13: University of Chicago

Rank 14: Peking University

Rank 15:University of Pennsylvania

Rank 16: Cornell University

Rank 17: Tsinghua University, University of California, Berkeley (UCB)

Rank 19: The University of Melbourne

Rank 20: The University of New South Wales (UNSW Sydney)

Nearly 500 universities have improved their performance since last year in WUR 2026, QS said.

Of these, the biggest climber is Sunway University in Malaysia, which has risen over 120 places, it added.