Most international universities in the world 2022

Explore the most international universities in the world using data from the Times Higher Education World University Rankings

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January 19 2022

Prospective students looking to study in the most international environments in the world should apply to universities in Switzerland, Hong Kong, Singapore or the UK.

Universities, by their nature, are global institutions. Typically, they are home to communities of students and scholars from all over the world, and they tackle some of the globe’s most pressing problems through research.

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This table – compiled using the international student score, international staff score, international co-authorship score and international reputation metrics collected for the Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2022 – shows that the above four countries and regions are home to some of the most international universities in the world.

These institutions all have a high proportion of international students and staff, collaborate on research with scholars from across the world, and have a strong global reputation to match. Read the full methodology at the bottom of the page.

Research suggests that diverse communities of students improve the teaching and learning experience, while opportunities for students to spend time abroad better prepare them to become global citizens.

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Top five most international universities in the world

1. University of Hong Kong

The University of Hong Kong is the most international university in the world, according to THE World University Rankings data.

Overall, this Hong Kong university has more than 18,000 students, of whom more than 43 per cent are international.

Teaching at the institution is in English and education has an international focus, with the aim of preparing students to become global citizens who can succeed anywhere in the world.

The university has created a vision plan to become “Asia’s Global University” that outlines all the measures the institution will taken to expand its global outreach and to recruit more staff and students from overseas.

2. ETH Zurich

It is no surprise that Switzerland is home to some of the most international universities in the world, given its location in the heart of Europe, surrounded by France, Italy, Germany, Austria and Liechtenstein.

ETH Zurich is located in Switzerland’s largest city, Zurich, which is known for being very safe (although expensive). The primary spoken language is Swiss German, but the university also offers courses in English.

The institution has more than 22,000 students from over 120 countries and is the top university in continental Europe.

The university focuses on teaching and research in the STEM subjects, and 21 Nobel prizes have been awarded to students and teachers connected to the institution. One of the most famous alumni is Albert Einstein.

=3. École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL)

A new entry this year, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), takes the joint third position. Also located in Switzerland, the university has more than 11,000 students and 62 per cent are international.

EPFL is highly regarded for its research and teaching in engineering. More recently, the university has branched out into the life sciences.

Students at the institution are given numerous opportunities to participate in exchange programmes with other universities in Switzerland and abroad. The university also offers an internship scheme for students enrolled at other internationally acclaimed universities to spend up to three months at one of its campus laboratories.

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=3. The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology

The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology is regarded as one of the fastest-growing universities in the world.

More than a third of the student body is considered international, with at least 60 nationalities represented. About 80 per cent of the faculty come from overseas.

More than 45 per cent of students undertake an overseas exchange, and all four academic schools have their own exchange programmes. Some 70 per cent of students participate in internships overseas.

5. University of Oxford

The University of Oxford is not only the top university in the world, it also happens to be one of the most international.

Over a third of students at the University of Oxford are international students, coming from 160 countries and territories. In fact, international students have been attending the University of Oxford for hundreds of years, with the first international student arriving way back in 1190.

Almost half of the staff at the university are also international, and the institution has links with many other institutions worldwide.

Prospective international students can listen to the university’s International Students podcast, which talks you through academic and social aspects of being at Oxford.

Most international universities in the world 2022

Click each institution to view its full World University Rankings 2022 profile

Most International Rank 2022	Most International Rank 2021	World University Rank 2022	University	Country/region
1	1	=30	University of Hong Kong	Hong Kong
2	2	15	ETH Zurich	Switzerland
=3	NR	=40	École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne	Switzerland
=3	NR	66	The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology	Hong Kong
5	4	1	University of Oxford	United Kingdom
=6	7	=5	University of Cambridge	United Kingdom
=6	5	12	Imperial College London	United Kingdom
8	6	21	National University of Singapore	Singapore
9	3	49	Chinese University of Hong Kong	Hong Kong
10	11	=137	University of Vienna	Austria
11	13	=35	King’s College London	United Kingdom
=12	9	46	Nanyang Technological University, Singapore	Singapore
=12	8	=146	Trinity College Dublin	Republic of Ireland
=12	10	=18	UCL	United Kingdom
15	12	=75	Delft University of Technology	Netherlands
16	=15	=54	Australian National University	Australia
=17	14	=137	University of Auckland	New Zealand
=17	=15	27	London School of Economics and Political Science	United Kingdom
19	18	=30	University of Edinburgh	United Kingdom
20	17	37	University of British Columbia	Canada
21	19	=75	University of Zurich	Switzerland
22	21	70	UNSW Sydney	Australia
23	28	65	University of Amsterdam	Netherlands
24	=23	33	University of Melbourne	Australia
25	20	=78	University of Warwick	United Kingdom
26	25	=162	Durham University	United Kingdom
27	=23	50	University of Manchester	United Kingdom
=28	22	44	McGill University	Canada
=28	27	=54	The University of Queensland	Australia
30	26	=5	Massachusetts Institute of Technology	United States
=31	31	57	Monash University	Australia
=31	30	=18	University of Toronto	Canada
33	32	=58	University of Sydney	Australia
34	29	=96	University of Copenhagen	Denmark
=35	NR	39	Karolinska Institute	Sweden
=35	NR	53	Wageningen University & Research	Netherlands
37	NR	=127	University of Leeds	United Kingdom
38	34	=80	University of Groningen	Netherlands
39	36	71	Leiden University	Netherlands
40	35	201–250	Aalto University	Finland
41	NR	92	University of Bristol	United Kingdom
42	37	=2	California Institute of Technology	United States
43	NR	91	Institut Polytechnique de Paris	France
44	NR	=190	King Abdulaziz University	Saudi Arabia
45	38	=80	McMaster University	Canada
46	NR	=143	University of Exeter	United Kingdom
47	NR	=158	Université Catholique de Louvain	Belgium
48	NR	110	University of Sheffield	United Kingdom
49	40	116	Lund University	Sweden
50	=41	=119	University of Oslo	Norway
51	=43	=2	Harvard University	United States
52	=41	4	Stanford University	United States
53	45	104	Aarhus University	Denmark
54	52	115	Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam	Netherlands
=55	39	=183	University of Cape Town	South Africa
=55	=47	28	Carnegie Mellon University	United States
=55	=43	7	Princeton University	United States
58	46	69	Utrecht University	Netherlands
59	49	=42	KU Leuven	Belgium
=60	57	8	University of California, Berkeley	United States
=60	=47	11	Columbia University	United States
62	56	83	Free University of Berlin	Germany
63	51	131	Uppsala University	Sweden
64	55	=40	Paris Sciences et Lettres – PSL Research University Paris	France
=65	50	45	Georgia Institute of Technology	United States
=65	54	301–350	University of Malaya	Malaysia
=67	53	=176	Stockholm University	Sweden
=67	=64	401–500	Technion Israel Institute of Technology	Israel
69	61	38	Technical University of Munich	Germany
70	59	22	Cornell University	United States
71	58	=13	Johns Hopkins University	United States
=72	60	10	The University of Chicago	United States
=72	63	136	Rice University	United States
74	=64	74	Humboldt University of Berlin	Germany
75	69	68	University of California, Santa Barbara	United States
76	=71	180	Karlsruhe Institute of Technology	Germany
77	62	=105	Purdue University West Lafayette	United States
78	66	9	Yale University	United States
=79	=71	=42	Heidelberg University	Germany
=79	68	26	New York University	United States
81	67	98	University of California, Irvine	United States
82	77	=96	Ghent University	Belgium
83	74	67	University of California, Davis	United States
84	70	=88	Sorbonne University	France
85	82	34	University of California, San Diego	United States
86	=75	32	LMU Munich	Germany
87	78	=78	University of Tübingen	Germany
88	81	=13	University of Pennsylvania	United States
89	=75	20	University of California, Los Angeles	United States
90	73	62	Boston University	United States
91	93	301–350	Hebrew University of Jerusalem	Israel
92	=86	112	University of Bonn	Germany
93	=79	155	Université de Paris	France
94	=88	201–250	University of Massachusetts	United States
=95	NR	73	Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin	Germany
=95	=79	501–600	Charles University in Prague	Czech Republic
97	NR	351–400	Politecnico di Milano	Italy
=98	84	23	Duke University	United States
=98	NR	=146	University of Mannheim	Germany
=98	90	=108	RWTH Aachen University	Germany
101	91	=193	University of Barcelona	Spain
102	97	201–250	Tel Aviv University	Israel
103	=86	=93	Michigan State University	United States
104	NR	=117	Université Paris-Saclay	France
105	85	63	University of Southern California	United States
106	83	=101	University of Helsinki	Finland
107	92	=24	Northwestern University	United States
108	=95	=158	Lomonosov Moscow State University	Russian Federation
109	94	=132	Arizona State University (Tempe)	United States
110	NR	=108	University of Freiburg	Germany
111	=88	64	Brown University	United States
112	98	29	University of Washington	United States
113	=107	251–300	Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University	United States
114	=103	=193	Texas A&M University	United States
115	99	85	Ohio State University (Main campus)	United States
116	105	48	University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign	United States
117	101	=24	University of Michigan-Ann Arbor	United States
118	=109	=183	University of Notre Dame	United States
=119	100	=122	Sungkyunkwan University (SKKU)	South Korea
=119	106	51	Washington University in St Louis	United States
121	=107	601–800	Tomsk State University	Russian Federation
122	=118	401–500	National Research Nuclear University MEPhI	Russian Federation
123	113	=16	Peking University	China
=124	=103	=172	University of Bologna	Italy
=124	102	82	Emory University	United States
126	=109	801–1000	National Autonomous University of Mexico	Mexico
=127	NR	130	Georgetown University	United States
=127	117	=197	Sapienza University of Rome	Italy
129	111	=190	Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey	United States
130	112	167	Indiana University	United States
131	=115	=158	University of Colorado Boulder	United States
132	NR	201–250	University of Padua	Italy
=133	120	=119	Penn State (Main campus)	United States
=133	114	=75	Zhejiang University	China
135	=95	301–350	North Carolina State University	United States
136	121	201–250	Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology (MIPT)	Russian Federation
137	=118	=58	University of Wisconsin-Madison	United States
138	122	301–350	Tongji University	China
139	=115	=151	Yonsei University (Seoul campus)	South Korea
140	124	301–350	East China Normal University	China
141	NR	251–300	Boston College	United States
142	129	501–600	Complutense University of Madrid	Spain
143	=127	=93	University of Maryland, College Park	United States
144	132	=35	The University of Tokyo	Japan
145	145	=113	National Taiwan University (NTU)	Taiwan
146	133	150	University of Arizona	United States
147	125	=127	University of Virginia (Main campus)	United States
148	130	351–400	University of Georgia	United States
149	137	154	University of Florida	United States
150	131	=105	Nanjing University	China
151	126	201–250	Korea University	South Korea
152	134	=16	Tsinghua University	China
153	=127	140	University of Pittsburgh-Pittsburgh campus	United States
=154	=140	201–250	Tohoku University	Japan
=154	=146	301–350	Tokyo Institute of Technology	Japan
156	139	801–1000	Waseda University	Japan
157	142	=113	Vanderbilt University	United States
158	136	=86	University of Minnesota	United States
159	144	60	Fudan University	China
160	138	47	University of Texas at Austin	United States
161	135	84	Shanghai Jiao Tong University	China
162	=151	=99	Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST)	South Korea
=163	150	501–600	University of Tsukuba	Japan
=163	123	601–800	University of Warsaw	Poland
165	NR	301–350	National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University	Taiwan
166	=140	52	University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill	United States
167	148	=99	Dartmouth College	United States
168	=146	251–300	Beijing Normal University	China
169	161	351–400	National Tsing Hua University	Taiwan
170	149	=54	Seoul National University	South Korea
171	143	61	Kyoto University	Japan
172	153	301–350	HSE University	Russian Federation
173	158	601–800	Saint Petersburg State University	Russian Federation
174	=159	801–1000	Novosibirsk State University	Russian Federation
175	=151	501–600	Hokkaido University	Japan
176	155	501–600	Kyushu University	Japan
177	154	301–350	Osaka University	Japan
178	166	601–800	National Cheng Kung University (NCKU)	Taiwan
179	156	201–250	University of São Paulo	Brazil
180	162	351–400	Nagoya University	Japan
181	157	401–500	Xi’an Jiaotong University	China
182	164	157	Wuhan University	China
183	170	601–800	Keio University	Japan
184	167	401–500	Tianjin University	China
185	169	401–500	University of Campinas	Brazil
186	168	=185	Pohang University of Science and Technology (POSTECH)	South Korea
187	NR	401–500	Sichuan University	China
188	=159	501–600	Harbin Institute of Technology	China
189	165	251–300	Sun Yat-sen University	China
190	171	=88	University of Science and Technology of China	China
191	NR	181	Huazhong University of Science and Technology	China
192	172	301–350	Indian Institute of Science	India
193	NR	301–350	Central South University	China

Methodology

The data in Times Higher Education’s ranking of The World’s Most International Universities 2022 are drawn largely from the “international outlook” pillar of the THE World University Rankings 2022. This takes into account a university’s proportions of international students, international staff and journal publications with at least one international co-author. Each of these elements is given equal weighting in calculating the score for this pillar.

The table adds a fourth component, which makes up 25 per cent of the total score: a university’s international reputation. This is a measure of the proportion of votes from outside the home country that the institution achieved in THE’s annual invitation-only Academic Reputation Survey, which asks leading scholars to name the world’s best universities for teaching and research in their field.

Only institutions that received at least 100 votes in the survey were eligible for inclusion. Universities must also receive at least 50 or at least 10 per cent of available domestic votes to be ranked. Once universities are included in the international list, they are only excluded if they do not meet the vote thresholds for two years in a row.

Metrics and weightings:

• 25 per cent: proportion of international staff

• 25 per cent: proportion of international students

• 25 per cent: international co-authorship

• 25 per cent: international reputation

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Most international universities in the world 2022

Explore the most international universities in the world using data from the Times Higher Education World University Rankings

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