ETH Zurich has fallen one place to 12th in the 2027 Times Higher Education World University Rankings after Tsinghua University in Beijing moved up to 11th.
The Zurich institution scored 93.6 overall and ranked seventh worldwide for research environment, its strongest category. Its score in that category was 98.3. ETH said its research reputation, funding and publication output contributed to the result.
Tsinghua’s move is a milestone for the rankings: for the first time, the highest-ranked university in Asia sits above the highest-ranked institution in mainland Europe. Times Higher Education said Tsinghua’s rise was driven largely by gains in international staff and student measures. The top 10 places remain occupied by universities in the United Kingdom and the United States, led by the University of Oxford.
University Ranking Highlights
- University of Oxford is number one for the record 11th consecutive year
- China’s Tsinghua University rises to number 11, overtaking Switzerland’s ETH Zurich
- Asia is ahead of continental Europe for the first time
- National University of Singapore (NUS) moves into the top 15
- Three Asian universities in the top 15 for the first time
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Despite The Change, ETH Remains The Highest-Ranked University In Continental Europe
Switzerland has six institutions in the top 200. EPFL in Lausanne also slipped one place, to 36th. The University of Basel ranked 111th, Bern 121st, Lausanne 129th and Geneva 163rd.
The 2027 rankings cover 2,297 universities across 118 countries and territories. They assess institutions using measures spanning teaching, research environment and quality, international outlook and links with industry.
A one-place change should not be read on its own as a decline in teaching or research quality: a university’s position also depends on how other institutions perform under the ranking’s methodology.
