The number of Vietnamese universities in the world rankings is the largest ever.

On October 9, Times Higher Education (THE) announced the world's best university rankings in 2026. Vietnam has 11 representatives in this list, an increase of 2 schools compared to last year.

The positions of all the ranked schools remain the same as last year. Of which, Ho Chi Minh City University of Economics has the highest ranking, in the 501-600 group. Following are Duy Tan University and Ton Duc Thang University, both ranked in the 601-800 group.

Last year, for the first time, Hanoi Medical University and Ho Chi Minh City Open University were ranked, and this year they are still in the 801-1000 and 1201-1500 groups, respectively, higher than Hanoi National University (1201-1500 group), Ho Chi Minh City National University (1501+ group), Hanoi University of Science and Technology (1501+ group)...

Two new names ranked this time are Nguyen Tat Thanh University, ranked 1001-1200 and Da Nang University, ranked 1501+.

TT	School name	Ranking in 2026	Ranking in 2025
1	Ho Chi Minh City University of Economics	501-600	501-600
2	Duy Tan University	601-800	601-800
3	School Ton Duc Thang University	601-800	601-800
4	School Hanoi Medical University	801-1000	801-1000
5	School Nguyen Tat Thanh University	1001-1200	Not rated yet
6	School Ho Chi Minh City Open University	1201-1500	1201-1500
7	Vietnam National University, Hanoi	1201-1500	1201-1500
8	Hanoi University of Science and Technology	1501+	1501+
9	Hue University	1501+	1501+
10	Danang University	1501+	Not rated yet
11	Ho Chi Minh City National University	1501+	1501+

Globally, Oxford University (UK) maintains its top position, for the 10th consecutive time in this position on THE's rankings. Second place is still Massachusetts Institute of Technology (USA).

Princeton University surpassed Harvard University to rise to third place, tied with Cambridge University.

Harvard and Stanford Universities are tied for fifth place. Other representatives in the top 10 include the California Institute of Technology, Royal London, University of California, Berkeley, and Yale University.

China has five universities in the top 40, up from last year. Some are moving closer to the top 10, including Tsinghua University and Peking University, as they boost their global research influence.

India is now the country with the second highest number of ranked universities, after the US.

THE's 2026 rankings include 2,191 higher education institutions from 115 countries and territories. THE's evaluation is based on 18 criteria, divided into 5 groups, including: Teaching (29.5%), Research environment (29%), Research quality (30%), International outlook (7.5%), Technology transfer (4%).