NUS has climbed to 15th in the world in the Times Higher Education (THE) World University Rankings 2027, its highest position since the table began, while NTU has risen three places to 28th.
Both universities announced their results on Wednesday, 30 September 2026, in releases from the National University of Singapore and Nanyang Technological University, after THE published the 2027 table.
Where the two universities stand
NUS stays third in Asia and first in Singapore. The university said its rise this year came largely from stronger scores in teaching and research.
NTU moved up from 31st, with better scores in all of THE’s performance indicators. It improved in teaching, research environment, research quality and international outlook, kept a full score for industry knowledge transfer, and made its biggest gains in teaching reputation and research reputation.
NTU now sits inside the top 30 of all three major global league tables. It is 12th in the QS World University Rankings and 27th in the U.S. News & World Report Best Global Universities list.
How THE ranks universities
The 2027 edition covers 2,297 institutions in 118 countries and territories. THE scores research-intensive universities on 17 calibrated performance indicators, grouped under five areas: teaching, research environment, research quality, international outlook and industry.
The University of Oxford keeps first place. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology is second, and Princeton University and Stanford University are tied for third.
Phil Baty, THE’s chief of global affairs, called NUS’s move into the top 15 a “remarkable achievement” and said the university “performs exceptionally well on every one of [the rankings’] core pillars”.
What the universities are changing for students
Both universities tied the result to changes in what undergraduates study, with artificial intelligence at the centre.
NUS has introduced a compulsory foundational AI module for all first-year undergraduates from Academic Year 2026/2027. In August, it widened its collaboration with OpenAI to give more students, faculty and staff access to advanced AI tools.
NTU is embedding AI across all undergraduate programmes from this academic year under NTU2030, its five-year strategic plan. Its target is to build AI into 40 per cent of courses across all 52 undergraduate degree programmes by 2030.
What the university heads said
NUS President Tan Eng Chye said the result was “not a one-off” and reflected “intentional, sustained effort over many years”. He added that rankings are one measure of progress, and that what matters more is “the difference our graduates make in society”.
NTU Deputy President and Provost Christian Wolfrum said the top-30 placing across the three rankings came from “consistent work to raise the quality of our faculty, strengthen our research output and build partnerships with leading institutions worldwide”.
