THE

Law 2026

Times Higher Education World University Rankings · · Methodology · Source: Times Higher Education World University Rankings official website · Editorial Standards

Evaluates universities worldwide for teaching quality and research impact in law.

THE evaluates universities across five pillars — Teaching, Research Environment, Research Quality, Industry, and International Outlook — making it one of the most comprehensive ranking systems.

How does Law evaluate universities?

Law, published by Times Higher Education World University Rankings, evaluates universities worldwide using key indicators such as Teaching, Research Environment, Research Quality, Industry, International Outlook, each assigned a distinct weight according to a publicly documented methodology. Data sources combine academic peer reviews, employer surveys, bibliometric databases such as Scopus and Web of Science, and institutional self-reported statistics, all independently verified by the publisher's research team. The 2026 edition assessed 425 universities from 15 countries and regions, covering teaching quality, research output, internationalization, and graduate employability across undergraduate, master's, and doctoral programs. Times Higher Education World University Rankings recollects raw data annually and cross-checks results to ensure the rankings reflect each institution's most current performance in faculty strength, scholarly productivity, global reach, and student outcomes, providing a reliable reference for prospective students, parents, and education researchers.

Which are the top universities in Law 2026?

The top universities in Law 2026 are: Stanford University, New York University, University of Cambridge, Columbia University, University of Oxford. This edition, published by Times Higher Education World University Rankings, evaluated 425 universities from 15 countries and regions using indicators such as Teaching, Research Environment, Research Quality, Industry, International Outlook. Rankings reflect weighted performance across multiple dimensions; students should consider methodology differences and their own academic priorities when interpreting results.

How does Law differ from other ranking systems?

THE (Times Higher Education) World University Rankings is among the most comprehensive, evaluating universities across teaching (30%), research environment (30%), research quality (30%), industry income (2.5%), and international outlook (7.5%), with 18 fine-grained indicators. Data sources combine the Elsevier Scopus bibliometric database, academic reputation surveys, and institution-reported statistics. The methodology underwent a major 2024 revision, adding a Research Quality category to reduce reliance on sheer output volume. In comparison, QS leans more on reputation surveys, ARWU is built solely on objective research metrics (Nobel Prizes, highly cited researchers), and US News centers on research productivity and citation impact. THE suits applicants seeking a balanced view of a university's combined research and teaching strength.

Current edition: published 2026-01
No results found
🇦🇷 Argentina
🇦🇺 Australia
🇦🇹 Austria
🇧🇪 Belgium
🇧🇷 Brazil
🇨🇦 Canada
🇨🇱 Chile
🇨🇳 China
🇨🇴 Colombia
🇭🇷 Croatia
🇨🇿 Czech Republic
🇩🇰 Denmark
🇪🇪 Estonia
🇫🇮 Finland
🇫🇷 France
🇩🇪 Germany
🇬🇭 Ghana
🇬🇷 Greece
🇭🇰 Hong Kong
🇭🇺 Hungary
🇮🇳 India
🇮🇩 Indonesia
🇮🇷 Iran
🇮🇪 Ireland
🇮🇱 Israel
🇮🇹 Italy
🇯🇵 Japan
🇱🇹 Lithuania
🇱🇺 Luxembourg
🇲🇴 Macau
🇲🇾 Malaysia
🇲🇽 Mexico
🇳🇱 Netherlands
🇳🇿 New Zealand
🇳🇬 Nigeria
🇳🇴 Norway
🇵🇪 Peru
🇵🇱 Poland
🇵🇹 Portugal
🇶🇦 Qatar
🇷🇺 Russia
🇸🇬 Singapore
🇸🇰 Slovakia
🇸🇮 Slovenia
🇿🇦 South Africa
🇰🇷 South Korea
🇪🇸 Spain
🇸🇪 Sweden
🇨🇭 Switzerland
🇺🇦 Ukraine
🇦🇪 United Arab Emirates
🇬🇧 United Kingdom
🇺🇸 United States
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Total 425 universities

Per page

10
20
50
100
University
Country
1 Stanford University logo Stanford University (SU) 🇺🇸 United States 84.7 98.8 92.8 63.4 95.3 61.5
2 New York University logo New York University (NYU) 🇺🇸 United States 84.5 92.1 99.5 60.3 99.1 68.2
3 University of Cambridge logo University of Cambridge 🇬🇧 United Kingdom 83.2 89.7 92.7 66.3 61.9 84.9
4 Columbia University logo Columbia University (CU) 🇺🇸 United States 82.9 93.0 95.1 60.3 68.7 75.8
5 University of Oxford logo University of Oxford 🇬🇧 United Kingdom 82.7 90.5 95.1 63.9 50.7 80.3
6 Harvard University logo Harvard University 🇺🇸 United States 82.3 87.4 96.6 67.3 78.4 60.4
7 University of California, Berkeley logo University of California, Berkeley (UCB) 🇺🇸 United States 82.1 96.7 92.0 61.0 83.2 55.3
8 The University of Melbourne logo The University of Melbourne 🇦🇺 Australia 80.9 85.1 90.2 64.0 89.3 78.6
9 = University of Chicago logo University of Chicago (UC) 🇺🇸 United States 80.6 97.9 88.9 64.0 48.8 52.0
9 = Yale University logo Yale University 🇺🇸 United States 80.6 98.7 88.4 66.9 43.7 44.9
11 University College London logo University College London (UCL) 🇬🇧 United Kingdom 80.4 81.5 86.7 73.4 61.1 83.3
12 Peking University logo Peking University (PKU) 🇨🇳 China 79.8 84.0 87.8 69.2 56.8 77.9
13 London School of Economics and Political Science logo London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) 🇬🇧 United Kingdom 79.2 86.4 89.4 66.7 17.5 81.9
14 KU Leuven logo KU Leuven (KUL) 🇧🇪 Belgium 78.4 79.3 94.8 62.4 100.0 55.6
15 National University of Singapore logo National University of Singapore (NUS) 🇸🇬 Singapore 78.0 79.4 90.3 59.3 92.4 77.9
16 Tsinghua University logo Tsinghua University (THU) 🇨🇳 China 77.8 73.3 84.9 77.4 100.0 61.4
17 University of Edinburgh logo University of Edinburgh 🇬🇧 United Kingdom 77.0 77.2 89.4 62.3 65.0 81.9
18 Leiden University logo Leiden University 🇳🇱 Netherlands 74.1 72.5 90.3 63.9 53.5 63.6
19 = Georgetown University logo Georgetown University 🇺🇸 United States 73.0 86.9 74.5 56.5 100.0 52.4
19 = University of Amsterdam logo University of Amsterdam (UvA) 🇳🇱 Netherlands 73.0 73.2 81.0 66.7 44.7 76.0
21 Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München logo Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München (LMU) 🇩🇪 Germany 72.6 76.6 84.2 61.4 63.4 54.4
22 University of California, Los Angeles logo University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) 🇺🇸 United States 72.5 84.0 73.7 63.1 68.2 55.9
23 University of Toronto logo University of Toronto 🇨🇦 Canada 72.4 73.6 80.6 61.1 55.9 79.7
24 = Maastricht University logo Maastricht University (UM) 🇳🇱 Netherlands 72.1 76.0 79.8 57.5 46.4 84.2
24 = University of Michigan logo University of Michigan (UM) 🇺🇸 United States 72.1 82.6 77.3 63.9 66.8 42.0
26 King's College London logo King's College London (KCL) 🇬🇧 United Kingdom 71.8 75.0 81.1 60.3 23.3 82.4
27 = Shanghai Jiao Tong University logo Shanghai Jiao Tong University (SJTU) 🇨🇳 China 71.1 60.5 65.8 80.6 97.6 88.0
27 = University of Hong Kong logo University of Hong Kong (HKU) 🇭🇰 Hong Kong 71.1 70.5 74.0 65.1 57.9 86.1
29 UNSW Sydney logo UNSW Sydney (UNSW) 🇦🇺 Australia 70.8 70.3 73.5 65.0 69.0 80.1
30 Duke University logo Duke University 🇺🇸 United States 70.1 76.3 71.0 60.7 95.1 60.0
31 Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin logo Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin (HU) 🇩🇪 Germany 69.3 73.2 87.0 55.6 40.9 47.9
32 University of Bologna logo University of Bologna (UNIBO) 🇮🇹 Italy 68.9 73.8 78.9 59.8 50.0 52.1
33 McGill University logo McGill University 🇨🇦 Canada 68.2 73.0 73.0 58.8 41.4 73.2
34 University of Oslo logo University of Oslo (UiO) 🇳🇴 Norway 67.7 58.2 81.5 68.0 42.8 65.5
35 Tilburg University logo Tilburg University (TiU) 🇳🇱 Netherlands 67.4 64.7 73.4 62.2 50.3 78.7
36 = University of Pennsylvania logo University of Pennsylvania 🇺🇸 United States 67.1 71.8 66.7 65.6 58.2 60.2
36 = University of Virginia logo University of Virginia (UVA) 🇺🇸 United States 67.1 74.9 68.0 62.0 87.7 41.6
38 Zhejiang University logo Zhejiang University (ZJU) 🇨🇳 China 66.6 65.0 66.9 65.8 76.3 69.6
39 Australian National University logo Australian National University (ANU) 🇦🇺 Australia 66.2 54.9 77.1 62.4 66.4 81.1
40 Universität Heidelberg Universität Heidelberg 🇩🇪 Germany 64.3 68.1 79.5 49.6 37.6 53.4
41 City University of Hong Kong logo City University of Hong Kong 🇭🇰 Hong Kong 64.1 55.6 64.5 66.4 61.1 89.0
41 Lund University logo Lund University 🇸🇪 Sweden 64.1 55.6 71.3 63.7 82.5 63.0
43 University of British Columbia logo University of British Columbia (UBC) 🇨🇦 Canada 63.1 56.6 59.2 73.0 36.5 83.9
44 Queen Mary University of London logo Queen Mary University of London (QMUL) 🇬🇧 United Kingdom 62.2 60.4 66.6 56.9 36.9 80.3
45 Cornell University logo Cornell University (CU) 🇺🇸 United States 61.9 65.9 59.3 59.9 67.5 59.7
46 = The University of Sydney logo The University of Sydney (USYD) 🇦🇺 Australia 61.6 59.1 56.4 66.7 65.9 71.9
46 = University of Vienna logo University of Vienna 🇦🇹 Austria 61.6 57.1 72.4 52.2 81.1 59.1
48 Ghent University logo Ghent University 🇧🇪 Belgium 60.9 57.6 68.6 61.6 56.3 47.5
49 Wuhan University logo Wuhan University (WHU) 🇨🇳 China 60.3 50.8 54.8 77.0 77.4 59.1
50 University of Copenhagen logo University of Copenhagen (UCPH) 🇩🇰 Denmark 59.9 46.8 69.7 63.6 58.2 64.3