QS World University Rankings 2024

Judgement has been made, and the top universities globally have been decided. The QS World University Rankings 2024 have been revealed, making for exciting reading. The rankings are an effective way to understand how institutions perform and the relative strength of universities in key areas. For international students, the rankings are a useful tool for research and evaluation. Let’s dive in and investigate what the 2024 rankings tell us. 

What criteria are used to rank universities?

The 2024 rankings mark the twentieth anniversary of the QS World University Rankings. For 19 of these years, QS has used the same methodology to evaluate university performance, called ‘Indicators’. However, they have underlined the need for adaptation, revision, and adjustment to reflect the changes in the higher education sector and the world. 

This has seen the addition of three new ‘Indicators’, namely sustainable education, employability, and academic collaboration. These are used with the original six ‘Indicators’ of academic reputation, faculty-to-student ratio, international student ratio, international staff ratio, employer reputation, and citations per faculty. 

Each of these criteria has a particular weighting that contributes to the overall rating of a university and provides a comparison between institutions. These have altered slightly from 2023 and are shown in the table below:

The 2024 rankings include just over 1,500 institutions in over 100 countries. Further, the rankings evaluate 17.5 million academic papers and the input of over 240,000 faculty, academics and employers. 

Let’s turn our attention towards the rankings for 2024.

Which universities are in the top 10?

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology has the distinction of being the number-one-rated university in the world for the 12th straight year. The silver and bronze positions were fought over by perennial rivals the University of Cambridge and the University of Oxford, with the former in the second spot for 2024. Fourth place went to Harvard University, with the top five rounded out by another Ivy League university, Stanford University. 

The top 10 universities for 2024 are dominated by institutions from the USA and the UK, with four from each. What is noteworthy is that for the first time, a university from Asia has made the top 10, with the National University of Singapore entering at number eight, moving three spots from number 11 last year. In addition, ETH Zurich from Switzerland maintained an upward trajectory moving up to the seventh spot globally, from ninth last year. 

The top ten universities in the world, according to the QS World University Rankings 2024 are:

1. Massachusetts Institute of Technology (USA)
2. University of Cambridge (UK)
3. University of Oxford (UK)
4. Harvard University (USA)
5. Stanford University (USA)
6. Imperial College London (UK)
7. ETH Zurich (Switzerland)
8. National University of Singapore (NUS)
9. University College London (UK)
10. University of California Berkeley (UCB)

Discover more about what rankings have to offer. 

Which institutions make the top 25?

Notable changes in the top 25 include an 11-place drop for Tshingua University (China) from 14 to 25 and the University of Edinburgh (UK) dropping down seven spots from 15 to 22. There was however more success for Cornell University, which moved up the rankings from 20 to 13.  There was a new entrant into the top 25 for 2024, University PSL from France, in the 24th spot. Dropping out of the top 25 is the University of Hong Kong, Johns Hopkins University, and the University of Tokyo. Australian universities also performed well, with the University of Melbourne at 14, and the University of New South Wales (UNSW) and the University of Sydney in joint 19th spot. 

The top 25 (from 11 to 25) is dominated by institutions from the USA, with seven universities, three from Australia, two from China, and one each from the UK and Canada.  The universities ranked number 11 to 25 for 2024 are:

What about the top 50 and most popular destinations?

The 2024 rankings demonstrate a strong showing for universities in the USA, UK and Australia. Institutions in the USA strengthened their position with three more entering the top 50, while Australia had one additional entrant. Universities in Asia also continued to perform well with 11 making the top 50. 

The top three universities in Canada for 2024 are:

1. University of Toronto (21)
2. McGill University (30)
3. University of British Columbia (34)

The top five institutions in Asia for 2024 are:

1. National University of Singapore (8)
2. Peking University (China - 17)
3. Tsinghua University (China - 25)
4. Nanyang Technological University (Singapore - =26)
5. The University of Hong Kong (=26)

Notable elements and features of the 2024 rankings are 85 new entrants, including 11 institutions from Bangladesh and 10 from Indonesia. Two significant performances are by the University of Luxemburg and Hamad bin Khalifa University (Qatar), both of which secured a top 400 spot. 

In addition, if you’re looking for a university with a perfect score for sustainability, look no further than the University of California (UCB), with notable mentions also going to the University of Toronto, the University of Pennsylvania and the University of British Columbia. 

The QS World University Rankings are a great way to research, investigate and interrogate what institutions worldwide are all about. They’re also a way to discover more about the quality of a country’s higher education sector and how universities are viewed by industry and employers.