Quacquarelli Symonds has unveiled the QS World Rankings 2025 following the QS Edu Data Summit held in Washington, D.C. MIT maintains its position at the top of the Top 10 list, which it held last year. Imperial College London has climbed to second place, showing improvement in its ranking. Oxford University and Harvard University have both maintained their positions from the previous year and are ranked third and fourth, respectively.

This year, the University of Cambridge has fallen to fifth place, losing its previous position. Stanford University has also experienced a decline, now ranking sixth. ETH Zurich has retained its ranking from last year, holding steady in seventh place. Likewise, the National University of Singapore remains in eighth place, maintaining its position. UCL London has once again secured the ninth position, mirroring its rank from the previous year. The California Institute of Technology (Caltech) has shown improvement over its 2024 ranking, now claiming the tenth position.

The World Rankings have been created using the methodology used in 2023. The methodology for the World University Rankings 2025 remains unchanged. According to the official website of QS rankings, the 100% weightage has been divided into various sections: 30% weightage has been given to Academic reputation, 15% to Employer reputation, 10% to Faculty Student Ratio, 20% to Citations per Faculty, 5% each to International Faculty Ratio, International Student Ratio, International Research Network, Employment Outcomes, and Sustainability.

The QS University rankings assess eligibility based on subject comprehensiveness, level comprehensiveness, and mode of teaching. In 2023, the QS World Rankings were unveiled on June 28. MIT claimed the top spot, with Cambridge University following closely in second place, Oxford University securing third position, and Harvard University in fourth place. Stanford University ranked fifth, with Imperial College London in sixth place and ETH Zurich in seventh. The National University of Singapore held eighth place, followed by UCL of London in ninth position, and the University of California Berkeley rounding out the top ten.