Most international universities in the world

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

January 28 2021

Most international universities in the world

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.

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 2021, shows that the above four countries are home to the 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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International student experience

Life as an international student at EPFL, Switzerland
International perspective: an Indian student in the UK during the Covid-19 pandemic
Discovering my passion at the University of Hong Kong
International perspective: students from Hong Kong in the UK
International perspective: a Chinese student in New Zealand
International perspective: a French student in Switzerland
A day in the life of a student in Singapore

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Top five most international universities in the world

1. University of Hong Kong

The University of Hong Kong has embarked on a mission to become “Asia’s global university”, which includes the goal of giving all its undergraduates two opportunities to study outside Hong Kong during their degree by 2022.

Overall, this Hong Kong university has more than 30,000 students, of which more than 35 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 could be successful anywhere in the world.

2. ETH Zurich

It is no surprise that Switzerland is home to some of the most international universities in the world, given its situation 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 main 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. Chinese University of Hong Kong

Students from more than 50 countries study at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. 

The university has exchange partnerships with more than 282 institutions in 36 countries and regions. Some 6,000 students study abroad or take part in a learning abroad programme or internship.

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Applying to university overseas 

How international students use social media to choose a UK university
Applying to university overseas: what to consider
Applying through Ucas as an international student
A guide for international students choosing a university in Australia
Hoping to apply to a US university as a foreign student?
How to choose a UK university
The cost of studying at a university in the UK
Nine tips for students studying abroad for the first time

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4. 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. 

5. Imperial College London

Imperial College London focuses teaching and learning around science, engineering, medicine and business. 

More than 60 per cent of students are international, with undergraduates coming from over 125 countries. 

Clubs and support services with an international focus at Imperial College include International Medical Careers and the Indian National Student Association. 

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Most international universities in the world 2021

Click each institution to view its World University Rankings 2021 profile

International Rank 2021	International Rank 2020	World University Rank 2021	University	Country/region
1	2	39	University of Hong Kong	Hong Kong
2	3	14	ETH Zurich	Switzerland
3	5	56	Chinese University of Hong Kong	Hong Kong
4	7	1	University of Oxford	United Kingdom
5	6	11	Imperial College London	United Kingdom
6	7	25	National University of Singapore	Singapore
7	9	6	University of Cambridge	United Kingdom
8	17	155	Trinity College Dublin	Republic of Ireland
9	10	47	Nanyang Technological University, Singapore	Singapore
10	12	16	UCL	United Kingdom
11	13	164	University of Vienna	Austria
12	NR	78	Delft University of Technology	Netherlands
13	11	35	King’s College London	United Kingdom
14	13	147	University of Auckland	New Zealand
15	16	59	Australian National University	Australia
15	15	27	London School of Economics and Political Science	United Kingdom
17	18	34	University of British Columbia	Canada
18	19	30	University of Edinburgh	United Kingdom
19	20	73	University of Zurich	Switzerland
20	23	77	University of Warwick	United Kingdom
21	22	67	UNSW Sydney	Australia
22	24	40	McGill University	Canada
23	25	51	University of Manchester	United Kingdom
23	21	31	University of Melbourne	Australia
25	30	149	Durham University	United Kingdom
26	28	5	Massachusetts Institute of Technology	United States
27	26	62	The University of Queensland	Australia
28	36	66	University of Amsterdam	Netherlands
29	30	84	University of Copenhagen	Denmark
30	33	18	University of Toronto	Canada
31	29	64	Monash University	Australia
32	27	51	University of Sydney	Australia
33	32	87	École Polytechnique	France
34	NR	80	University of Groningen	Netherlands
35	37	201–250	Aalto University	Finland
36	38	70	Leiden University	Netherlands
37	39	4	California Institute of Technology	United States
38	NR	69	McMaster University	Canada
39	39	155	University of Cape Town	South Africa
40	NR	103	Lund University	Sweden
41	43	127	University of Oslo	Norway
41	42	2	Stanford University	United States
43	46	3	Harvard University	United States
43	41	9	Princeton University	United States
45	45	106	Aarhus University	Denmark
46	62	75	Utrecht University	Netherlands
47	44	28	Carnegie Mellon University	United States
47	48	17	Columbia University	United States
49	47	45	KU Leuven	Belgium
50	49	38	Georgia Institute of Technology	United States
51	53	111	Uppsala University	Sweden
52	55	116	Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam	Netherlands
53	NR	183	Stockholm University	Sweden
54	58	301–350	University of Malaya	Malaysia
55	49	46	Paris Sciences et Lettres – PSL Research University Paris	France
56	51	118	Free University of Berlin	Germany
57	56	7	University of California, Berkeley	United States
58	60	12	Johns Hopkins University	United States
59	54	19	Cornell University	United States
60	52	10	The University of Chicago	United States
61	61	41	Technical University of Munich	Germany
62	58	94	Purdue University West Lafayette	United States
63	64	124	Rice University	United States
64	57	80	Humboldt University of Berlin	Germany
64	NR	401–500	Technion Israel Institute of Technology	Israel
66	65	8	Yale University	United States
67	66	98	University of California, Irvine	United States
68	72	26	New York University	United States
69	69	68	University of California, Santa Barbara	United States
70	67	87	Sorbonne University	France
71	63	42	Heidelberg University	Germany
71	68	201–250	Karlsruhe Institute of Technology	Germany
73	73	54	Boston University	United States
74	76	64	University of California, Davis	United States
75	73	15	University of California, Los Angeles	United States
75	70	32	LMU Munich	Germany
77	71	103	Ghent University	Belgium
78	NR	78	University of Tübingen	Germany
79	NR	401–500	Charles University in Prague	Czech Republic
79	NR	136	University of Paris	France
81	80	13	University of Pennsylvania	United States
82	78	33	University of California, San Diego	United States
83	82	98	University of Helsinki	Finland
84	89	20	Duke University	United States
85	75	53	University of Southern California	United States
88	85	201–250	University of Massachusetts	United States
86	83	114	University of Bonn	Germany
86	78	105	Michigan State University	United States
88	88	61	Brown University	United States
90	87	107	RWTH Aachen University	Germany
91	NR	198	University of Barcelona	Spain
92	83	24	Northwestern University	United States
93	80	201–250	Hebrew University of Jerusalem	Israel
94	91	184	Arizona State University (Tempe)	United States
95	104	174	Lomonosov Moscow State University	Russian Federation
95	95	301–350	North Carolina State University	United States
97	90	191	Tel Aviv University	Israel
99	93	80	Ohio State University (Main campus)	United States
100	112	101	Sungkyunkwan University (SKKU)	South Korea
101	98	22	University of Michigan-Ann Arbor	United States
102	97	85	Emory University	United States
98	94	29	University of Washington	United States
103	100	167	University of Bologna	Italy
105	96	48	University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign	United States
111	98	166	Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey	United States
103	102	197	Texas A&M University	United States
106	107	50	Washington University in St Louis	United States
107	103	501–600	Tomsk State University	Russian Federation
107	101	201–250	Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University	United States
109	108	801–1000	National Autonomous University of Mexico	Mexico
109	104	170	University of Notre Dame	United States
113	109	23	Peking University	China
112	106	140	Indiana University	United States
114	110	94	Zhejiang University	China
115	113	131	University of Colorado Boulder	United States
115	115	187	Yonsei University (Seoul campus)	South Korea
117	114	201–250	Sapienza University of Rome	Italy
118	NR	401–500	National Research Nuclear University MEPhI	Russian Federation
118	117	49	University of Wisconsin-Madison	United States
120	110	114	Penn State (Main campus)	United States
121	119	201–250	Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology (MIPT)	Russian Federation
122	NR	401–500	Tongji University	China
123	NR	801–1000	University of Warsaw	Poland
124	NR	351–400	East China Normal University	China
125	123	117	University of Virginia (Main campus)	United States
126	122	167	Korea University	South Korea
127	121	90	University of Maryland, College Park	United States
127	128	133	University of Pittsburgh-Pittsburgh campus	United States
129	120	501–600	Complutense University of Madrid	Spain
130	126	401–500	University of Georgia	United States
131	118	111	Nanjing University	China
132	125	36	The University of Tokyo	Japan
133	124	124	University of Arizona	United States
134	129	20	Tsinghua University	China
135	127	100	Shanghai Jiao Tong University	China
136	131	85	University of Minnesota	United States
137	131	152	University of Florida	United States
138	129	44	University of Texas at Austin	United States
139	140	801–1000	Waseda University	Japan
140	141	56	University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill	United States
140	149	201–250	Tohoku University	Japan
142	136	111	Vanderbilt University	United States
143	145	54	Kyoto University	Japan
144	138	70	Fudan University	China
145	139	97	National Taiwan University (NTU)	Taiwan
146	142	301–350	Beijing Normal University	China
146	137	301–350	Tokyo Institute of Technology	Japan
148	135	101	Dartmouth College	United States
149	144	60	Seoul National University	South Korea
150	133	401–500	University of Tsukuba	Japan
151	145	501–600	Hokkaido University	Japan
151	148	96	Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST)	South Korea
153	150	251–300	HSE University	Russian Federation
154	152	351–400	Osaka University	Japan
155	150	401–500	Kyushu University	Japan
156	153	201–250	University of São Paulo	Brazil
157	157	401–500	Xi’an Jiaotong University	China
158	155	601–800	Saint Petersburg State University	Russian Federation
159	157	401–500	Harbin Institute of Technology	China
159	143	601–800	Novosibirsk State University	Russian Federation
161	156	351–400	National Tsing Hua University	Taiwan
162	163	351–400	Nagoya University	Japan
163	159	501–600	National Chiao Tung University	Taiwan
164	145	301–350	Wuhan University	China
165	160	251–300	Sun Yat-sen University	China
166	161	501–600	National Cheng Kung University (NCKU)	Taiwan
167	NR	401–500	Tianjin University	China
168	154	151	Pohang University of Science and Technology (POSTECH)	South Korea
169	164	401–500	University of Campinas	Brazil
170	162	601–800	Keio University	Japan
171	165	87	University of Science and Technology of China	China
172	170	301–350	Indian Institute of Science	India

Methodology

The data in Times Higher Education’s ranking of The World’s Most International Universities 2021 are drawn largely from the “international outlook” pillar of the THE World University Rankings 2021. 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.

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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