European Universities 2026

Compiled on 23 October 2026. The main table is the QS World University Rankings: Europe 2026, released on 2026-01-28. This edition scores 950-plus European institutions on 12 indicators. Oxford leads on 100, ETH Zurich is second on 98.3, and Imperial College London and UCL share 97.8 in joint third. The QS World 2027 list is in global universities, where Oxford places 4th.

QS Europe 2026: overall top 20

Seven of the top 10 are in the United Kingdom. The release says Oxford rises from 3rd in Europe to 1st, ETH Zurich falls from 1st to 2nd, Imperial falls from 2nd to joint 3rd, and UCL rises from 5th to joint 3rd. Delft is 11th on 94.8, up from 15th. Lund and the Technical University of Munich share 94.3 at joint 12th. LMU Munich and Warwick share 92.1 at joint 17th, from 21st and 22nd. Institut Polytechnique de Paris is 20th on 91.8.

Top three in four regions

The same edition has Northern, Western, Southern and Eastern pages. Oxford still leads the north, with Imperial and UCL joint second. ETH Zurich leads the west. Politecnico di Milano leads the south, ahead of Bologna and the University of Barcelona. Charles University leads the east, ahead of Warsaw and Jagiellonian. The release places Charles 92nd on the full Europe table.

How this ranking was built

Compiled 2026-10-23. The main table is the QS Europe 2026 overall-score top 20, released 2026-01-28. Tied ranks keep the equals sign from the table. The region table uses the same edition’s Northern, Western, Southern and Eastern pages. The QS World 2027 list is in global universities.