3 Illinois institutions named among world's top universities

The University of Chicago was recently named in the top 15 of the "Times Higher Education's" World University Rankings for 2025, and it wasn't the only Illinois academic institution to make the list, according to recently released rankings.

The university was ranked 14th out of more than 2,000 academic institutions from 115 countries and territories, according to the magazine focusing on higher education. Of the 2,092 institutions that were ranked, the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom claimed the top spot for the ninth year in a row.

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology rose to second place, overtaking Stanford University, which fell to sixth place. Northwestern University claimed the 31st spot and the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign was ranked 46th.

In the U.S., the Massachusetts Institute of Technology led the list, followed by Harvard University and Princeton University.

"Times Higher Education" assessed educational institutions across five key areas: teaching, research environment, research quality, industry engagement and international outlook. 

The top 10 universities can be found below:

1. The University of Oxford
2. Massachusetts Institute of Technology
3. Harvard University
4. Princeton University
5. University of Cambridge
6. Stanford University
7. California Institute of Technology
8. University of California, Berkeley
9. Imperial College London
10. Yale University