NUS secured joint eighth place alongside U.K.'s Imperial College London.

Singapore has another institution in the 11–20 range, with Nanyang Technological University (NTU) ranked 12th.

China is the only other Asian country represented in this group, with Tsinghua University ranked 12th, tied with NTU, while Peking University placed 15th.

The results reflect gains for Singapore’s universities, with NUS rising from ninth and NTU climbing from 20th last year, while Tsinghua and Peking dropped one and two places.

Campus of National University of Singapore. Photo courtesy of the university

The QS rankings, compiled annually by U.K.-based educational analyst Quacquarelli Symonds, evaluate universities based on five indicators, including academic reputation, employer reputation, citations per paper, research productivity and impact, and international research collaboration.

The 2026 edition assessed more than 21,000 academic programs across 1,912 institutions in 100 countries and territories.

U.S. universities dominate the top tier, accounting for eight institutions in the top 20, led by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, which ranked first globally for mathematics, followed by Harvard University in fourth.

Between them, the University of Oxford and the University of Cambridge placed second and third.

Princeton University rounded out the top five, rising from seventh place last year.