Tsinghua University's campus. Photo courtesy of Tsinghua

The ranking marks the first time Tsinghua has entered the global top 10, following strong performance in teaching and research environment indicators, according to Times Higher Education (THE).

Last year, it was ranked joint 12th with Yale University, just below another Chinese institution, Peking University.

The Times Higher Education World University Rankings by Subject 2026, released in January, evaluated 1,497 universities from 109 countries and territories using 18 performance indicators.

The U.S. dominates the top 10 with six institutions. The California Institute of Technology ranks first, while Harvard University and Stanford University share second place.

The U.K. has two entries, with the University of Cambridge ranked seventh and the University of Oxford eighth. Switzerland’s ETH Zurich is ninth.

Beyond the top 10, two other Asian universities appear in the top 20.

The National University of Singapore fell out of the top 10 compared to 2025 and now ranks 11th, while China's Peking University is placed joint 12th alongside Imperial College London of the U.K.

Below is the top 20 universities in the 2026 Times Higher Education subject rankings for physical sciences.