QS Quacquarelli Symonds: QS World University Rankings: Sustainability 2026

A Swedish University crowned World's Best, Asia ascends and UK Shines as US drops

LONDON, Nov. 18, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- QS Quacquarelli Symonds, global higher education experts, have released the 2026 edition of the QS World University Rankings: Sustainability.

Lund University in Sweden has taken the top spot for the first time. University of Toronto drops to second place, followed by UCL up to third.

This year, 2000+ universities are featured across 106 higher education systems.
The US is most represented (240 universities), followed by China (163), the UK (109), India (103) and France (76).

Top-10
2026	2025
1	=3	Lund University	Sweden
2	1	University of Toronto	Canada
3	=5	UCL	UK
4	=7	The University of Edinburgh	UK
5	=5	University of British Columbia	Canada
6	=39	LSE	UK
=7	=7	Imperial College London	UK
=7	=12	UNSW Sydney	Australia
9	=15	McGill University	Canada
10	=9	The University of Manchester	UK

Ben Sowter, QS Senior VP, said, "The publication of the QS Sustainability Rankings arrives at a pivotal moment. With only 17% of the 169 global Sustainable Development Goals on track for delivery in 2030, the need for accelerated action on environmental and social challenges has never been clearer."

Overview

• University of California, Berkeley (11^th ), remains top in the US. NYU joins the top-20.
  
  
• The UK has the most institutions in the top 10, top 50, and top 200.
  
  
• Canada has the world's highest concentration of top-10 universities (7%)
  
  
• UNSW Sydney re-enters the top-10 (7^th). Four Australian universities are in the top-20.
  
  
• Université Paris-Saclay (45^th) is the only French university among the top-50.
  
  
• Germany boasts 65 ranked universities, led by Universität Hamburg (46^th)
  
  
• Delft University of Technology (35^th) is the Dutch leader
  
  
• 58 Spanish universities are featured in this edition, led by Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (83^rd)
  
  
• Seoul National University (37^th) becomes Asia's top-performer, overtaking The University of Tokyo (48^th).
  
  
• China adds more institutions than any other system - 49 new entries-nearly double its closest competitor, India (+26). Fudan University is the highest ranked (140^th).
  
  
• IIT Delhi remains India's best performing institution (205^th).
  
  
• National University of Singapore (69^th) and Nanyang Technological University (99^th) are tied in first for Environmental Research
  
  
• Universidade de São Paulo is the only Latin American university in the top-200 (90^th).
  
  
• South Africa boasts all four of Africa's top-ranked universities. University of Cape Town leads (59^th)
  
  
• American University of Beirut retains highest rank in the Arab Region (176^th)

The complete rankings are available here.

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