According to the latest academic ranking by QS, ETH in Zurich remains the only university outside of the UK and US to be ranked as one of the top 10 best universities in the world. It follows another glowing report by QS, which found that Swiss universities have the third-largest share of top academic courses in the world.

QS World University Ranking 2023

The QS World University Ranking is one of the most comprehensive studies of universities in the world. 1.418 universities in 100 countries are ranked by their academic reputation, the ratio of teachers to students, the number of international students and teachers enrolled and how appealing graduates are to international companies offering jobs.

When calculating the final order, 16,4 million academic papers were analysed and expert opinion was drawn from over 151.000 teachers and 99.000 employers. In all, the ranking for 2023 is the largest ever attempted by QS.

ETH Zurich ranked as the best university outside the US and UK

Despite dropping two places in the last two years, ETH Zurich has remained inside the top 10 for the eighth year running in 2023, making it the best university outside the US and UK. In particular, QS praised the university for its high academic and employer reputation, its research output and the number of international students and faculty members on campus. However, QS noted that the faculty to student ratio at ETH still needs improvement.

ETH was joined by five American and four British universities in the top 10. The ranking was topped by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, followed by the University of Cambridge and the University of Stanford.

Top 10 universities in the world 2023

According to QS, the top 10 universities in the world for 2022-23 are:

1. Massachusetts Institute of Technology
2. University of Cambridge
3. Stanford University
4. University of Oxford
5. Harvard University
6. California Institute of Technology
7. Imperial College London
8. University College London
9. ETH Zurich
10. University of Chicago

Best universities in Switzerland revealed

In this year’s ranking, all universities in Switzerland dropped places, with the exception of the University of Basel, which climbed two places to 136th. In all, three Swiss universities were in the top 100 (ETH, EPFL in Lausanne and the University of Zurich), and 10 were in the ranking overall.

The Swiss universities on the list were ranked as follows:

• ETH Zurich (9)
• EPFL Lausanne (16)
• University of Zurich (83)
• University of Bern (120)
• University of Geneva (125)
• University of Basel (136)
• University of Lausanne (203)
• Università della Svizzera italiana (240)
• University of St. Gallen (501-510)
• University of Fribourg (571-580)

For more information on how the ranking is calculated, and to see how universities in the rest of the world got on, check out the QS website.