5 Dutch universities named among top 100 in THE World Rankings 2026

Five universities in the Netherlands have been named among the top 100 in the World University Rankings 2026 by Times Higher Education (THE). It’s not all good news though, as eight of the 12 Dutch universities included in the ranking have fallen in their positions, with none making the top 50 for the second year in a row. 

THE World University Rankings 2026

The annual ranking by Times Higher Education scores global universities on 18 performance indicators, and this year 2.191 universities from 115 countries and territories were included. 

Performance indicators are grouped into five areas: Teaching (the learning environment); Research environment (volume, income and reputation); Research quality (citation impact, research strength, research excellence and research influence); International outlook (staff, students and research); and Industry (income and patents).

Not all of these areas have equal weight in the ranking, with Teaching weighted at 29,5 percent, Research Environment at 29 percent, Research Quality at 30 percent, International Outlook at 7,5 percent and Industry at 4 percent. The ranking looks at data, combined with the results of the most recent Academic Reputation Survey to draw conclusions about global universities.

There has been some scepticism around world university rankings lately, with research by the United Nations University (UNU) showing that “universities that buy products and services from QS and THE may have better chances of moving up in those rankings”. The Dutch universities association has also criticised the rankings, claiming that it is difficult to show true university performance with figures. For this reason, Utrecht University decided years ago not to take part in the rankings and therefore does not appear on the list.

Declining research quality sees Dutch universities fall in world rankings

For the second year in a row, five Dutch universities made it into the top 100 for the World University Rankings, but none were named in the top 50. Instead of improving, eight of the 12 institutions actually dropped in the ranking.

The Netherlands’ top-performing university TU Delft, which fell no fewer than eight places in the 2025 rankings, dropped even further down the list from 56th to 57th for 2026. Other Dutch universities that saw a drop in the ratings this year include the University of Amsterdam, the University of Groningen, Radboud University in Nijmegen, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam and Tilburg University, which is the lowest-ranked Dutch university in the ranking. 

On the positive side, both universities in Wageningen and Leiden have improved in the rankings, moving up one and three places respectively. According to Times Higher Education, many of the Dutch universities have dropped in the ranking due to a decline in research quality and expect the situation to get worse as the government’s planned cuts to the budget for education take effect. 

Top universities in the Netherlands 2026

According to the THE World University Rankings, these are the best universities in the Netherlands for 2026:

• 57. Delft University of Technology
• 62. University of Amsterdam
• 66. Wageningen University and Research
• 70. Leiden University
• 82. University of Groningen

Times Higher Education 10 best universities in the world

In all, the world’s top universities according to the THE World Rankings are the following:

• 1. University of Oxford
• 2. Massachusetts Institute of Technology
• =3. Princeton University
• =3. University of Cambridge
• =5. Harvard University
• =5. Stanford University
• 7. California Institute of Technology
• 8. Imperial College London
• 9. University of California, Berkeley
• 10. Yale University

To see the full ranking of universities or for more information about the study’s methodology, visit the Times Higher Education website.