Karolinska Institute is the only Nordic educational institution that makes it into the top 50 in the world on the British magazine's ranking. KI ends up in 49th place, which is a better ranking than last year's.
Karolinska has, however, had a significantly higher ranking. Before the scandal surrounding surgeon Paolo Macchiarini, the medical university was, for example, in 28th place in 2016.
Sweden has five educational institutions in the top 200 and a total of 13 on the ranking. Seven have improved their position compared to last year and three have dropped. This corresponds to an improvement rate of 31 percent, the best of all countries with at least 10 ranked institutions, according to Times Higher Education.
American and British dominance
At the top of the list, for the ninth year in a row, is the University of Oxford in the UK. Next come MIT and Harvard, both located in Cambridge just outside Boston in Massachusetts. All top ten educational institutions are located in the USA or the UK.
The ranking is based on several parameters such as the reputation of teaching and research, the proportion of doctoral students, and how often research from the university is awarded or cited in scientific articles.
2,092 universities from 115 different countries and regions have been included in the ranking, according to Times Higher Education.
Asia overtakes Europe
Despite a good trend for Sweden and some other European countries, Europe is losing ground. Europe used to be the continent with the largest representation on the list, but for the second year in a row, Asia has taken that title.
Moreover, Europe now has only 91 universities among the top 200, compared to 99 in 2019. China is continuing to approach a top-ten spot with Tsinghua University in 12th place and Peking University in 13th place. At the same time, top universities in Japan, South Korea, and Singapore are also climbing the ranking.
1. University of Oxford, UK
2. Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), USA
3. Harvard University, USA
4. Princeton University, USA
5. University of Cambridge, UK
6. Stanford University, USA
7. California Institute of Technology (Caltech), USA
8. University of California, Berkeley, USA
9. Imperial College London, UK
10. Yale University, USA
Swedish educational institutions in the top 200: Karolinska Institute (49), Royal Institute of Technology (shared 95th place), Lund University (shared 95th place), Uppsala University (shared 130th place), Stockholm University (shared 191st place).
Swedish universities on places 201-250: Chalmers University of Technology, Linköping University, Gothenburg University.
Source: Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2025
