Oxford is top of the THE world table for an 11th year, but its lead over MIT is down to 0.1 points. Oxford Brookes climbed a band, to 701-800.

The University of Oxford is the best university in the world for an 11th year running, according to the Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2027. The table was published on 30 September.

THE calls the run a record. But Oxford’s lead over second place is now just 0.1 points.

Oxford scored 97.9 out of 100. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology scored 97.8. Last year the gap was half a point, 98.2 to 97.7, according to THE’s 2026 table.

Across the city, Oxford Brookes University moved up a band. It is now placed 701-800 in the world, up from 801-1000 last year.

The top five

THE ranked 2,297 universities from 118 countries and territories this year. The 2027 table starts like this:

Rank University Overall score 2027 Overall score 2026
1 University of Oxford 97.9 98.2
2 Massachusetts Institute of Technology 97.8 97.7
=3 Princeton University 97.0 97.2
=3 Stanford University 97.0 97.1
5 University of Cambridge 96.9 97.2

Oxford’s score fell by 0.3 points while MIT’s rose by 0.1. That is the whole story of the narrowing gap. Cambridge slipped from joint third to fifth.

Where Oxford wins and where MIT does

THE builds the overall score from five pillars. Oxford and MIT split them:

Pillar Oxford MIT
Teaching 97.1 99.1
Research environment 100.0 96.5
Research quality 96.8 99.4
Industry 99.9 100.0
International outlook 95.8 90.9

Oxford’s lead rests on two things. It has a perfect 100 for research environment, which covers research income, reputation and productivity. And it is far more international than MIT, measured by its share of overseas students, staff and co-authors.

MIT is ahead on teaching and on research quality, which is mostly about how often a university’s papers are cited. Oxford’s research quality score fell from 97.7 last year to 96.8, the biggest drop on any of its five pillars.

Oxford Brookes: up a band, on the back of research

Oxford Brookes’ overall score sits in the range 40.2 to 42.3 this year. Last year it was 35.5 to 38.9. THE publishes a range rather than an exact figure for universities placed below 300th.

Almost all of that rise came from one pillar. Brookes’ research environment score went from 23.1 to 29.2. Its other four pillars barely moved:

Pillar 2026 2027
Teaching 26.9 27.5
Research environment 23.1 29.2
Research quality 53.9 53.6
Industry 30.6 31.0
International outlook 88.1 88.5

Brookes is one of nine UK universities in the 701-800 band. The others include De Montfort, Brighton, Hertfordshire and Lincoln. In all, 110 UK universities are ranked.

Its international outlook score of 88.5 is its strongest pillar by a distance.

A different picture from the British tables

These rankings measure research above all, so they favour big research universities. The domestic league tables weigh teaching, student satisfaction and graduate jobs more heavily.

That is why the two can disagree. Less than a fortnight ago, Oxford came fifth in The Times and Sunday Times Good University Guide 2027, down from joint fourth, with St Andrews top.

What it means for you

  • If you are applying to university, the world rankings tell you about research strength, not about how good the teaching will be on your course. The UK guides and the National Student Survey are closer to that.
  • For Oxford as a place, the top spot is part of what draws students, researchers and research money from abroad. THE’s international outlook pillar is where Oxford pulls furthest ahead of MIT.
  • For Oxford Brookes, the jump is driven by its research environment. The university’s teaching and research quality scores were almost unchanged.

Neither the University of Oxford nor Oxford Brookes had published its own statement on the 2027 table when we checked on 1 October. All figures here are from Times Higher Education’s published 2026 and 2027 tables.