The Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich (ETH) has maintained seventh place for the third consecutive year in the QS World University Rankings 2026. This makes it the best university in continental Europe, ahead of the EPFL and the Technical University of Munich, both of which rank 22nd.
The ETH has ranked among the world’s top 10 universities for the 11th consecutive year in the Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) World University Rankings. In the 2026 edition the university holds seventh place for the third consecutive year, making it the highest-ranked university in continental Europe, with only universities from the US and the UK ahead of it. The ranking evaluated a total of 1,501 universities from 105 higher education systems.
Among the criteria that contributed to the ETH’s top ranking are its academic reputation (99.7 points out of 100), the internationality of its researchers (99.3 points), and its high number of widely cited publications (98.8 points). However, for the ratio of teaching staff to students, the ETH received only a middling score. Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Imperial College London retained the two top spots. Stanford University climbed three places to rank third, ahead of the universities of Oxford, Harvard, and Cambridge.
The Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne (EPFL) climbed from 26th to 22nd place, making it the second-best university in continental Europe alongside the Technical University of Munich, which also gained ground. The University of Zurich rose nine places to 100th. The University of Geneva is in 155th place, the University of Basel in 158th, and the University of Bern in 184th. The University of Lausanne follows in 212th place and the University of Lugano in 473rd.
The US leads the way with 192 ranked universities, followed by the UK (90), mainland China (72), India (54), and Germany (48). For the first time in the 22-year history of the ranking, most of the universities that were evaluated are in Asia. Therefore, Ben Sowter, QS Senior Vice President, described this as a “rebalancing of global academic influence.” As he emphasizes, these shifts underscore “an increasingly multipolar academic world”.
Source: www.s-ge.com