ETH Zurich remains best-ranked university in Continental Europe for 2026

ETH Zurich has once again been named the best-ranked university in Continental Europe by the Times Higher Education (THE) World University Rankings. Hitting the spot for the 16th time in a row, the institution drew praise from THE for its consistency. 

ETH Zurich ranked 11th best university in the world

As it did in previous years, ETH Zurich was named 11th overall in the 2026 ranking, the only university outside the US, the UK, China and Singapore to rank inside the top 20. Issued every year since 2004, the World University Rankings by THE is a ranking of institutions around the world according to the quality of their teaching and research output. 

The 2026 ranking features some old favourites in the top 10, with the University of Oxford taking the number one spot for the 10th year in a row, followed by a number of well-known, prestigious universities in the UK and the US, including Harvard, Princeton, the University of Cambridge, and Yale. 

While the top echelons of the ranking continue to be dominated by western universities, THE reported that East Asian universities are catching up, with China leading the charge. Just below ETH Zurich in 12th place were Tsinghua University and Peking University, both in China.

Five Swiss universities place in top 200 of THE ranking 2026

Other Swiss universities featured in the top 200 of the ranking included the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne (EPFL), which dropped three places to 35th overall, the University of Bern, which ranked 108th, the University of Basel (120), and the University of Geneva (166). The University of Lausanne also put in its best-ever showing, placing 125th overall. 

One institute remained noticeably absent: the University of Zurich, which last year confirmed that it would pull out of future THE rankings. The institute in Zurich argued that the criteria used in the ranking no longer reflect the real quality of teaching for anyone considering studying in Switzerland. They are not the first to have raised such concerns. Nonetheless, the ranking remains one of the most influential in the world.