Imperial comes eighth in new Time Magazine ranking
College is ranked 3rd in Europe, behind Oxford and Cambridge.
Imperial reached the eighth place in Time Magazine’s “World’s Top Universities of 2026” ranking, released on January 28th. Nationally, the College came third to the universities of Oxford (first place) and Cambridge (seventh place).
Imperial’s “Global Engagement” score was the third highest of any institution on the ranking, only behind the British universities of UCL and St Andrews. However, the College was given the second-worst “Innovation & Economic Impact” score within the top 10.
60% of the total score is based off “Academic Capacity & Performance” – a mix of staff-to-student ratios and financial data. The “Global Engagement” metric, which was given a 10% weighting, mostly reflects the proportion of international students, while “Innovation & Economic Impact”, weighted at 30%, tracks research output and graduate outcome.
In October, the Times Higher Education World Universities Ranking 2026 had also placed Imperial at the 8th position globally, behind its rivals Oxford and Cambridge.
The usefulness and transparency of university rankings have often been questioned, with one Imperial researcher writing in Felix that they “rarely measure what matters most to students: teaching.” Imperial’s league tables web page states: “Rankings do not drive us – people do.”
