International Women’s Day: top universities led by women

Analysis of the Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2026 reveals that 58 of the top 200 institutions are currently led by women. This is an increase from the 54 universities led by women last year and now amounts to more than a quarter of the top 200 universities in the world.

The current number one institution (the University of Oxford) is led by Irene Tracey, who took over from Louise Richardson in January 2023. Four of the prestigious Ivy League institutions in the US – Columbia University, Dartmouth College, Yale University and Brown University – have female leaders.

There are four more female leaders compared with last year, and 31 more than in 2015, when THE first started collecting the data. 

Of the top 200 universities, 6 per cent are led by women of colour.

The Netherlands, the US, Germany and the UK are some of the countries with high numbers of female-led institutions.

Below, we take a look at the achievements of the female vice-chancellors of the top 10 universities and the journeys that brought them to where they are now.

1. University of Oxford: Irene Tracey

Neuroscientist Irene Tracey became vice-chancellor of the University of Oxford in 2023.

Tracey gained her undergraduate and postgraduate degrees in biochemistry at Merton College, Oxford, where her research focused on the early use of magnetic resonance imaging methods to study disease mechanisms in humans. After that, she held a postdoctoral position at Harvard Medical School.

Tracey returned to Oxford in 1997 and was a founding member of the Oxford Centre for Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging of the Brain (now the Wellcome Centre for Integrative Neuroimaging). She then took up a tenured position in the department of physiology, anatomy and genetics at Christ Church College, later moving to the department of anaesthetics.

Tracey is still professor of anaesthetic neuroscience in the Nuffield department of clinical neurosciences.

Credit - OUImages/Cyrus Mower

2. Massachusetts Institute of Technology: Sally Kornbluth

Sally Kornbluth became the 18th president of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in January 2023. She is only the second female leader in MIT’s 162-year history.

Kornbluth’s academic background is in cell biology. She obtained a degree in political science from the University of Cambridge, then pursued a PhD in molecular oncology at Rockefeller University.

She was previously professor of pharmacology and cancer biology at the Duke University School of Medicine.

3. University of Cambridge: Deborah Prentice

Deborah Prentice took up the role of vice-chancellor of the University of Cambridge in July 2023.

Her academic background is in psychology, having studied human biology and music at Stanford University. She then progressed to graduate studies in psychology at Yale University, earning a PhD in 1989. Prentice’s research has focused on the study of social norms in human behaviour.

Prentice began her career at Princeton University as an assistant professor, eventually becoming dean of faculty.

4. Yale University: Maurie McInnis

Maurie McInnis became president of Yale University in July 2024. She is the first woman to serve as non-interim president of Yale University.

McInnis began her academic career as a graduate student in history of art at Yale University. Her academic interest is in colonial American art and culture from the antebellum South. She has written five books on the subject. 

McInnis previously held leadership roles at the University of Virginia and Stony Brook University. 

5. Columbia University: Claire Shipman

Claire Shipman has been acting president of Columbia University since March 2025. 

Shipman began her career as a journalist working for CNN, NBC and ABC, covering some of the the biggest events in recent history, including the collapse of the Soviet Union. She has received the DuPont Award and an Emmy Award for her reporting on major world events. 

Shipman has also written four books and is an advocate for women in leadership and a commentator on the confidence gap in women. 

Prior to her appointment as acting president, Shipman had served on Columbia’s board of trustees since 2013 and was elected co-chair in 2023. 

Shipman gained both her degrees from Columbia: a BA in Russian Studies from Columbia College and a master of international affairs from the School of International and Public Affairs.

Credit - Columbia University

6. University of Toronto: Melanie Woodin

Melanie Woodin is the first female president of the University of Toronto. Woodin previously served as dean of the university’s Faculty of the Arts and Sciences.

She earned her bachelor’s degree in biology in 1995 and master’s in zoology in 1997 from the University of Toronto. She then obtained her PhD in neuroscience from the University of Calgary. After postdoctoral study at the University of California, Berkeley, Woodin was appointed as an assistant professor at the University Toronto and was later promoted to full professor in 2017. 

Credit- University of Toronto

7. New York University: Linda G. Mills

Linda Mills became the 17th president of New York University in July 2023.

Mills gained a BA in history and social thought from the University of California, Irvine, a JD from the University of California College of the Law, San Francisco, a master’s in social work from San Francisco State University and a PhD in health policy from Brandeis University.

She started working at NYU in 1999 as associate professor in social work and has since held numerous positions at the university.

8. École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne: Anna Fontcuberta i Morral

Anna Fontcuberta i Morral’s academic background is in physics and material sciences. She studied her bachelor’s degree in physics at the University of Barcelona and went on to study at Université Paris-Sud and École Polytechnique. 

Morral began at École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne as a professor in semiconductor materials. 

She was appointed president in January 2025. 

Credit - Anna Fontcuberta i Morral © 2024 EPFL / Nicolas Righetti – Lundi13

9. KU Leuven: Severine Vermeire

Severine Vermeire became rector of KU Leuven in August 2025. 

Vermeire’s background is in medicine, having completed her medical undergraduate degree at KU Leuven in 1995 and her doctoral degree in biomedicine in 2001. She has taught in KU Leuven’s faculty of medicine since 2005 and became a full professor in 2020. 

Her research focuses on the gut microbiome and genetic susceptibility in inflammatory bowel disease. Vermeire is still actively involved as principal researcher in several clinical research trials. 

She has also worked as associate editor for scientific journals Gut and the Journal of Crohn’s and Colitis. 

10. Universität Heidelberg: Frauke Melchior

Frauke Melchior took up the position of rector of Universität Heidelberg in October 2023 and will remain in the role for the next six years.

Melchior is a scientist, having studied chemistry at the University of Marburg and University of Bristol. She worked as a postdoctoral researcher at the Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry in Göttingen and at the Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, California.

She then joined the Faculty of Biosciences at Universität Heidelberg to continue her research as professor for molecular biology at the ZMBH in 2008. As of April 2021, she transferred to Forschungszentrum Jülich, one of the research centres in the Helmholtz Association, as a member of the board of directors.

Credit: Forschungszentrum Jülich / Ralf-Uwe Limbach

Universities led by women in the THE World University Rankings top 200

Full analysis of the results can be found here: Women lead almost three in 10 of world's best universities

Note: Data is correct as of 6 February 2026 and includes acting presidents and vice-chancellors. Five institutions in the list were either newly ranked or new to the top 200 this year. There are 201 universities included due to a tie.