Nan Yang
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Asian univ. eclipses mainland Europe's best for 1st time in Times ranking
- Sep 30, 2026 - 12:10All,World
LONDON - An Asian university placed higher than continental Europe's leading institution for the first time in the latest annual global ranking released Wednesday by British magazine Times Higher Education, reflecting what it called a shift of academic power from West to East.
In the World University Rankings 2027, China's Tsinghua University overtook the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich to rank 11th. The other Asian universities to make the top 15 were Peking University in 13th place and the National University of Singapore in 15th, bringing the total to three for the first time.
The magazine evaluates university performance across areas including education, research environment and international outlook.
Among Japanese institutions, the University of Tokyo fell from 26th place last year to 27th, while Kyoto University dropped from 61st to 62nd.
With 2,297 global institutions ranked, Japan had the fourth largest number at 112, although the number was down from 115 last year.
"It is now clear that the tectonic plates of global higher education are shifting permanently," Phil Baty, Times Higher Education's global affairs officer, said.
"We are witnessing a historic realignment of academic power from West to East."
The top 10 continued to be dominated by British and American institutions, with the University of Oxford ranking first for the 11th consecutive year, followed by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in second, and Princeton University and Stanford University in joint third.
Meanwhile, the number of U.S. institutions in the top 500 was the lowest on record at 96.
