Young University Rankings 2020

The Times Higher Education Young University Rankings list the world’s best universities that are 50 years old or younger.

The table is based on the same 13 performance indicators as the flagship THE World University Rankings, but the weightings have been adjusted to give less weight to reputation.

The universities are judged across all their core missions – teaching, research, knowledge transfer and international outlook – to provide the most comprehensive and balanced comparisons available.

The 2020 ranking includes 414 universities, up from 351 in 2019.


View the Young University Rankings 2020 methodology


The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology is the world’s best young university for the third consecutive year, while Nanyang Technological University, Singapore ranks second, up from third last year.

Switzerland’s Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne ranked second in last year’s table but dropped out of the list after reaching its 51st birthday this year.

The University of Paris is the highest new entry in the ranking, featuring at 11th place following a merger last year.

The UK is the most-represented nation, with 36 institutions, while Spain has 27 and France and India each have 26.

Overall, 66 territories across Europe, Asia, Oceania, North America, Latin America and Africa feature in the ninth annual edition of the table, up from 60 last year.


Read our analysis of the Young University Rankings 2020 results

Download a free copy of the Young University Rankings 2020 digital supplement


To raise your university’s global profile with Times Higher Education, contact branding@timeshighereducation.com

To unlock the data behind THE’s rankings, and access a range of analytical and benchmarking tools, contact data@timeshighereducation.com

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