best in the world

UT Austin ranked 56th best university worldwide on U.S. News list

Kudos to the home of the Longhorns.

University of Texas at Austin/Facebook

U.S. News & World Report has published its comprehensive list of top 100 best universities worldwide for 2026-2027. Only one school in the Lone Star State made the cut: the University of Texas at Austin.

U.S. News' Best Global Universities report ranks more than 2,250 schools based exclusively on their academic research performance and international reputation. Only 275 universities from the U.S. were included in the global ranking, and 21 based in Texas.

Harvard University topped the list for 2026-2027, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Stanford University claimed the coveted No. 2 and No. 3 spots worldwide.

UT Austin ranked 56th overall, further cementing the university's reputation as the top choice for students seeking a higher education in Texas.

In a statement explaining global university trends, the managing editor for Education at U.S. News, LaMont Jones, Ed.D., said schools in the U.S. have continued to rank "disproportionately high" while major universities from other countries in China and South America are starting to catch up.

"The continuing strength of [American university] reputations and academic research are, for the most part, unmatched," he said. "It's why students all over the world flock here to learn."

Earlier in June, UT ranked No. 35 in a separate list of the best universities in the world from the Center for World University Rankings, which compared 2,000 schools globally.

The only other Central Texas universities on the U.S. News list were Baylor University in Waco and Texas State University in San Marcos, which respectively ranked No. 454 and No. 1,531 worldwide.

Here's where other Texas universities stand among the top 1,000 in this year's global rankings:

No. 117 – University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas
No. 147 – Baylor College of Medicine, Houston
No. 180 – Texas A&M University, College Station
No. 204 – Rice University, Houston
No. 301 – University of Texas at San Antonio
No. 330 – University of Texas Health Science Center Houston
No. 393 – University of Houston
No. 509 – University of Texas at Dallas
No. 565 – Texas Tech University, Lubbock
No. 605 – University of Texas Medical Branch Galveston
No. 746 – University of North Texas, Denton
No. 884 – University of Texas at Arlington
No. 950 – Southern Methodist University, Dallas

Additionally, five other Texas universities ranked outside the top 1,000: University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (No. 1,160); University of Texas El Paso (No. 1,248); Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center in Lubbock (No. 1,878); Texas Christian University in Fort Worth (No. 1,910); and Sam Houston State University in Huntsville (No. 2,145).

best global universities rankings universities university of texas university of texas at austin us news & world report ut austin

global ranking news

UT Austin declared world's No. 35 best university in new global report

The University of Texas at Austin/Facebook

undefined

The University of Texas at Austin is soaring to the top of the class worldwide. The Center for World University Rankings (CWUR) has ranked UT at No. 35 in the world on its prestigious Global 2000 list for 2026.

UT Austin also ranks as the No. 1 university in Texas and No. 22 in the U.S.

Each year, CWUR grades more than 21,000 universities around the world based on four factors without relying on surveys and university data submissions: education (25 percent), employability (25 percent), faculty (10 percent), and research (40 percent). For the 2026 edition, 81 million outcome-based data points were analyzed for the rankings, and the schools that placed at the top made the Global 2000 list.

Here's how CWUR ranked UT Austin's performance across the four categories:

No. 13 – Faculty rank
No. 66 – Employability rank
No. 72 – Research rank
No. 93 – Education rank

In the past year, U.S. News and World Report, Forbes, and WalletHub, have praised the home of the Longhorns as one of the best universities in America. It's a listmaker's favorite in other global ranking reports, including those that focus on graduate schools. UT has maintained its high-ranking status in these annual rankings even as university leaders face criticism from students for closing and consolidating several programs.

A total of 313 universities in the U.S. made the cut, and only two other Texas universities earned spots among the top 100: The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas and Texas A&M University in College Station. UT Southwestern ranked No. 2 statewide, No. 35 nationally, and No. 69 globally; and Texas A&M ranked No. 3 statewide, No. 44 nationally, and No. 91 globally.

These are the top 10 best universities in the world for 2026, according to CWUR:

Harvard University
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Stanford University
University of Cambridge
University of Oxford
Princeton University
University of Pennsylvania
Columbia University
Yale University
University of Chicago

ut austin university of texas at austin rankings