The Latest Updates on the 2025 Academic Ranking of World Universities

On the morning of August 15, the ShanghaiRanking released its 2025 Academic Ranking of World Universities. Our dedicated blogger spent the weekend compiling the latest rankings, maintaining a calculation method based on the average scores from four major rankings: QS, US News, THE, and ARWU, focusing on the top 300 universities globally.

💡 Key Changes Summary

• Distribution of Top 100 Universities: Changes in the top 100 categorize by region, with Belgium gaining +1 and Canada losing -1, while other regions remained the same:
  – USA: 36
  – Continental Europe: 27
  – China: 12
  – UK: 10
  – Australia: 7
  – Other Asia: 5
  – Canada: 3
  Total schools with rankings that rose: 26; dropped: 23; unchanged: 51.
• Overall Ranking Changes: The overall changes were not as pronounced as those seen with the US and QS updates (top 20 remained nearly unchanged). However, there were some shifts, with average rankings for institutions in the UK and China improving, while those from Canada, Australia, and other Asian countries saw declines. The specific changes for the top 300 are:
  – China: +2.12
  – UK: +2.06
  – Continental Europe: +0.07
  – USA: -0.46
  – Australia: -0.77
  – Canada: -2.45
  – Other Asia: -2.45
• Major Highlights: Tsinghua and Peking University continued their upward trend, while Hong Kong University made significant jumps and ETH experienced a decline.

🌏 Changes in Top Schools by Region

🇺🇸 United States

MIT, Harvard, and Stanford firmly hold the top three positions, with the top 20 remaining unchanged. The University of California, Berkeley (UCB), Caltech, Yale, and Princeton are in the top 10. Philadelphia’s University of Pennsylvania, University of Chicago, Cornell University, Johns Hopkins University, and Columbia University captured spots in the top 20.

🇬🇧 United Kingdom

Oxford and Cambridge maintained their positions, while University College London (UCL) climbed +1 spot into the top 10. Imperial College London continues to hold the 7th position.

🐰 China

Tsinghua University improved its position to 12, and Peking University moved up to 18, tied with ETH. Zhejiang University held steady at 34, Shanghai Jiao Tong University climbed +2 to 36, and Fudan University rose +1 to 38. Nanjing University also jumped +2 to 69. Notably, the University of Hong Kong moved +2 into the top 30, while Hong Kong City University climbed +5 to 62; other Chinese and Hong Kong member schools remained unchanged.

🌸 Asia

National University of Singapore (NUS) retained its position at 22, while Nanyang Technological University (NTU) climbed +2 back to 31. The University of Tokyo dropped two ranks to 39, with Seoul National University and Kyoto University maintaining their positions at 66 and 72, respectively.

🇪🇺 Europe

ETH Zurich declined by one rank to 18. Despite this, it remains significantly ahead of competitors, with notable rises for the Technical University of Munich (+1 to 35) and Lausanne Polytechnic (+2 to 42). Both Karolinska Institute and Saclay University remain unchanged at 43 and 49, while PSL dropped -2 to 46.

🇦🇺 Australia

The University of Melbourne held its rank at 24, but the University of Sydney fell -1 to 41. UNSW dropped -1 to 46, while Monash University advanced +2 to 45. The University of Queensland maintained its position at 50, Australian National University declined -2 to 67, and the University of Western Australia preserved its rank at 93.

🇨🇦 Canada

The University of Toronto retained its place in the top 20, while the University of British Columbia fell -1 to 36, McGill University dropped -3 to 47, and the University of Alberta fell out of the top 100.

🔑 Reference Value

• Ranking Rationality: The four major world university rankings have their discrepancies, but ARWU is regarded as relatively pure, focusing primarily on academic performance. Therefore, averaging the four rankings yields a more objective overall assessment.
• Higher Rankings, Less Controversy: The standard deviation reflects the difference in positions among various rankings. The data indicates that schools with higher rankings tend to have smaller standard deviations, suggesting minimal controversy among the top 20.
• Minimal Deviation in ShanghaiRanking: The average standard deviation of the top 100, excluding ShanghaiRanking, is notably lower (16.6) than the average of the four rankings (18.3), indicating less variance in ShanghaiRanking’s assessments.
• Valuable Insights into Top 100 Changes: The fluctuations in ranks among the top 100 offer significant insight and are provided in the data above.

Which Ranking Do You Prefer? Let Us Know! 🗣️

Stay tuned for more updates and discussions on global university rankings, academic insights, and everything you need for your educational journey! 🌎📚

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