A global realignment in higher education is underway, according to the Times Higher Education (THE) World University Rankings 2026. While the University of Oxford holds the top position for the 10th consecutive year, the data reveal a shifting balance of academic power: U.S. institutions are slipping, even as leading universities across Asia continue to climb.
The 2026 rankings assess more than 3,100 universities across 136 countries, evaluating them on 17 performance metrics, including teaching, research strength, and international outlook. Despite the familiar dominance of elite Western institutions, the data reveal what Phil Baty, chief knowledge officer at THE, described as “a major shift in the geopolitics of knowledge and innovation.”
In total, seven U.S. universities remain in the top 10 — the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (2), Princeton University (tied for 3), Harvard University (tied for 5), Stanford University (tied for 5), the California Institute of Technology (7), the University of California, Berkeley (9), and Yale University (10). Yet the U.S. now has only 35 institutions in the top 100, down from 38 last year, and 102 in the top 500, its lowest total on record. Twenty-five American universities, including the University of Chicago (15th), Columbia University (20th), and Duke University (28th), reached their lowest positions ever.
Experts told Times Higher Education that these figures predate the effects of the Trump administration’s recent policies targeting higher education, with most of the underlying data drawn from the 2023 academic year. They cautioned that declines could worsen as federal interference begins to affect research funding, faculty retention, and international student enrollment. Ming Cheng, professor of higher education at Sheffield Hallam University, said that continued political pressure on leading institutions could trigger “brain drains” and weaken the U.S. higher education system’s global standing.
Even elite institutions are feeling pressure. Princeton’s climb to its best-ever joint-third finish came at Harvard’s expense, as Harvard slipped to its lowest position in six years.
Across the Pacific, Asia’s performance tells a contrasting story. China now has five universities in the global top 40, up from three last year, and 35 in the top 500, surpassing Australia. Eighteen Chinese institutions achieved their best-ever rankings, more than any other country. The University of Hong Kong’s six ranked universities all improved, while South Korea achieved record gains in research quality, now with four institutions in the top 100.
However, the region’s leading universities — Tsinghua University (12th), Peking University (13th), and the National University of Singapore (17th) — have stalled after years of rapid ascent. Analysts told THE that this slowdown is less about declining quality and more about national policy constraints. Rajika Bhandari, principal of Rajika Bhandari Advisors, said that elite Asian universities will need greater academic autonomy and stronger support for fundamental research to advance further.
Experts also warned that demographic changes could reshape global higher education in the coming decade. Declining youth populations in East Asia and the United States may reduce domestic talent pipelines, while rapidly developing systems in Indonesia and Turkey expand their research capacity. Bhandari noted that the global flow of academic talent is beginning to shift, with a “reverse brain drain” from established U.S. and European institutions toward countries investing heavily in research and innovation.
Oxford vice-chancellor Irene Tracey, whose institution again leads the world, acknowledged that the rankings come “at a time of real strain for UK higher education.” Her remarks could just as easily apply across the Atlantic. The U.S. remains home to many of the world’s most powerful universities — but for the first time in decades, their grip on global preeminence no longer feels unshakeable.
