The University still in top 100 in 2026

Uppsala University climbs international rankings

QS (Quacquarelli Symonds) has presented its annual global ranking, the QS World University Rankings 2027. Uppsala University climbs to 87th internationally and places third nationally.

Uppsala University continues to climb in the QS World University Rankings, rising six places from 93rd to 87th. As was the case last year, Lund University is the highest-ranked Swedish institution at 71st (+1), followed by KTH at 82nd (-4); Uppsala University comes third nationally.

“Over the past five years, Uppsala University is the Swedish institution that has shown the greatest improvement in the QS rankings, rising from 128th to 87th place, which represents an increase of 41 places or 33 per cent”, says Emma Östlund, Controller at the University Administration, Uppsala University.

Compared with last year’s ranking, Uppsala University has seen an improvement in its scores for ‘Academic reputation’ (+1.4) and ‘Student-to-staff ratio’ (+4.6).

“This result confirms that we are moving in the right direction and is the result of the vital contributions made by so many people. We should be proud, but we must not rest on our laurels. I am convinced that, by utilising the University’s broad and deep expertise, we can contribute even more and continue to climb the rankings. We are on the right track”, says Uppsala University’s Vice-Chancellor Anders Hagfeldt.

Uppsala University remains in the top 100

Uppsala University remains in the top 100 in the Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU), also known as the Shanghai Ranking, which lists the world’s leading universities. Although the university has dropped one place since last year, Uppsala University is once again ranked as the second-best Swedish university this year, behind the Karolinska Institute (KI).

Uppsala University has dropped one place in this year’s list and is ranked 94th, whilst KI is ranked 41st. Lund University and Stockholm University are ranked within the 100–150 range, whilst the University of Gothenburg is ranked within the 150–200 range.

The top Scandinavian university is the University of Copenhagen, ranked 34th. The world’s top three universities remain the American universities Harvard University, Stanford University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Publication and citation data as sources

The Shanghai Ranking comprises six different indicators, all of which are linked to research. Higher education institutions do not submit any data themselves; instead, the sources are publication and citation data from Web of Science, Nature and Science, official lists of Nobel Prizes and other awards, etcetera.

"The ranking measures research excellence with a focus on engineering, natural sciences and medical sciences. Uppsala University has seen a decline in the ‘Publication’ and ‘PCP’ (per capita publication) indicators, which measure the number of publications in general, but has improved in the ‘Nature and Science’ indicator for the fourth year running and this year achieved the highest score of all Swedish higher education institutions in that indicator. Uppsala University has also made progress in the ‘Highly Cited (HiCi)’ indicator, which is positive, even though it remains the indicator in which the University achieves its lowest scores", says Emma Östlund, Controller at the Planning Division, Uppsala University.

The HiCi indicator is based on Clarivate’s annual list of the most Highly Cited Researchers (HCR) within their respective disciplines. The five researchers from Uppsala University featured on the list are: Dan Andersson (Microbiology), Tommy Cederholm (Clinical Medicine), Therese Pettersson (Social Sciences), and Morteza Ghobakhloo and Susanna C Larsson (both in Cross-Field).

Johan Ahlenius