The world's best universities announced: Five universities from Turkey made the list

The 2026 global university ranking results published by The Times Higher Education were revealed through the evaluation of 2,191 institutions selected from 115 countries across 11 different fields. According to the report, a total of five universities from Turkey achieved significant success by entering the top 500 in the general rankings.

Among the universities that entered the list within the top 500, Koç University ranked highest at 301st place. Middle East Technical University (METU) and Sabancı University were listed together at 351st place, while Boğaziçi University entered the list at 401st, and Istanbul Technical University (ITU) at 501st.

At the global summit, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) maintained its leading position in the arts and humanities, business and economics, and social sciences categories. Stanford University ranked first in education and law, while Harvard University took the top spot in engineering and life sciences; the California Institute of Technology stood out in physical sciences. Oxford University topped the list in computer science as well as medicine and health.

Asian universities also experienced a remarkable rise in this year's rankings. Significant increases were observed in the rankings of Asian institutions, particularly in life sciences, physical sciences, and computer science. In this context, the National University of Singapore entering the top 20 in life sciences was one of the most notable examples of academic development in the region.

In field-based rankings, Koç University and METU rose to 251st place in engineering. In the field of computer science, ITU and METU shared the 251st spot. Boğaziçi University and Bilkent University were both ranked within the top 400 in both disciplines.

The rating was based on many different criteria, including academic reputation, citation average of published works, qualifications of teaching staff, doctoral graduate rates, and institutional income. Millions of academic articles and hundreds of millions of citation data points were taken into account during the analysis.

In the 2026 rankings, where Turkey strengthened its presence in the international education arena with its universities entering the top 500, many universities also stood out in different areas of expertise.

News Source: 12punto