Thinking of hitting the books again? Or just wondering where the brainiest students study these days? The prestigious QS World University Rankings for 2026 have just dropped, revealing which institutions stand in the best stead for the year ahead. Two Australian universities cracked the top ten for yet another year – but it’s not all straight HDs, with 25 Aussie unis dropping in the rankings compared to 2025.
More than 1,500 institutions from around the world were assessed for the 2026 rankings, including 36 from Australia. The top five were pretty similar to last year, with MIT holding onto first place with a perfect score of 100, followed by Imperial College London, Stanford, Harvard and Cambridge.
Australia’s highest-ranked institution was the University of Melbourne, which landed 19th on the global list. While it slipped six spots from 13th in 2025, its overall score actually rose 1.9 points to 90.8 – thanks to improved ratings in seven of the nine ranking indicators. The uni earned a near-perfect 99.7 for academic reputation (the highest in Australia) and also ranked first in the country for employer reputation and sustainability. Hats off to you, UoM!
Just one position behind was the University of New South Wales (UNSW), which held onto its place among the top 20 universities in the world for the third consecutive year. Its overall score of 90.7 saw it drop one position from 19th in 2025, but it maintained impressive ratings for academic reputation (96.3) and ranked equal 12th in the world for sustainability. Of the 36 Australian institutions assessed, UNSW placed first in the employment outcome and international research network categories.
Overall, two-thirds of Australia’s ranked universities dropped in this year’s rankings. Meanwhile, only seven climbed higher, including Monash University’s jump from 37th to 36th. The University of Sydney slipped out of the top 20, landing at 25th, with the Australian National University and the University of Queensland also dropping two spots to 32nd and 42nd, respectively.
Despite the overall decline, we think it's still pretty impressive that nine Australian universities still made the top 100 worldwide. You can check out the full rankings here.
Here are the 20 best universities in the world
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), USA
- Imperial College London, UK
- Stanford University, USA
- University of Oxford, UK
- Harvard University, USA
- University of Cambridge, UK
- ETH Zurich, Switzerland
- National University of Singapore, Singapore
- University College London, UK
- California Institute of Technology, USA
- The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong
- Nanyang Technological University, Singapore
- University of Chicago, USA
- Peking University, China
- University of Pennsylvania, USA
- Cornell University, USA
- Tsinghua University, China
- University of California, Berkeley, USA
- University of Melbourne, Australia
- University of New South Wales, Australia
Here are the 10 best universities in Australia
- University of Melbourne
- University of New South Wales
- University of Sydney
- Australian National University
- Monash University
- University of Queensland
- University of Western Australia
- Adelaide University
- University of Technology Sydney
- RMIT University