On October 9, Times Higher Education (THE) announced its 2026 World University Rankings.

Vietnam has 11 universities included in this year’s list, two more than last year.

All universities maintained their previous ranking positions.

Among them, the University of Economics Ho Chi Minh City holds the highest position, placed in the 501-600 group.

Following are Duy Tan University and Ton Duc Thang University, both in the 601-800 group.

Last year, for the first time, Hanoi Medical University and Ho Chi Minh City Open University were ranked.

This year, they remain in the 801-1000 and 1201-1500 groups, respectively.

Both placed higher than Vietnam National University, Hanoi (1201-1500), Vietnam National University, Ho Chi Minh City (1501+), and Hanoi University of Science and Technology (1501+).

Two new universities joined the rankings this year: Nguyen Tat Thanh University, placed in the 1001-1200 group, and the University of Danang, in the 1501+ group.

List of Vietnamese universities in the THE 2026 World University Rankings:

University of Economics Ho Chi Minh City: 501-600 (same as 2025)
Duy Tan University: 601-800 (same as 2025)
Ton Duc Thang University: 601-800 (same as 2025)
Hanoi Medical University: 801-1000 (same as 2025)
Nguyen Tat Thanh University: 1001-1200 (not ranked in 2025)
Ho Chi Minh City Open University: 1201-1500 (same as 2025)
Vietnam National University, Hanoi: 1201-1500 (same as 2025)
Hanoi University of Science and Technology: 1501+ (same as 2025)
Hue University: 1501+ (same as 2025)
University of Danang: 1501+ (not ranked in 2025)
Vietnam National University, Ho Chi Minh City: 1501+ (same as 2025)

Globally, the University of Oxford (UK) remains at the top for the 10th consecutive year.

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (USA) stays in second place.

Princeton University has overtaken Harvard University to share third place with the University of Cambridge.

Harvard and Stanford now share fifth position.

The rest of the top 10 includes the California Institute of Technology, Imperial College London, University of California - Berkeley, and Yale University.

China has five universities in the top 40, more than last year.

Leading the push toward the top 10 are Tsinghua University and Peking University, driven by their increasing global research influence.

India now has the second-highest number of ranked universities, after the United States.

The 2026 THE World University Rankings evaluated 2,191 higher education institutions across 115 countries and territories.

The rankings are based on 18 performance indicators, categorized into five areas: teaching (29.5%), research environment (29%), research quality (30%), international outlook (7.5%), and industry (knowledge transfer) (4%).

Thuy Nga