University of Tokyo moves up a spot to 28th in World University Rankings

Many of Japan’s top universities moved up in the latest World University Rankings announced on Wednesday, with five, including the University of Tokyo, ranked in the top 200.

In the annual rankings for 2025 released by Times Higher Education (THE), the University of Tokyo was ranked 28th — the highest a Japanese university has placed since 2015 and up from 29th in the previous rankings. Kyoto University stayed in 55th place, while Tohoku University advanced to 120th from 130th. Osaka University also rose in the rankings from 175th to 162nd.

Other Japanese universities that made the top 400 worldwide include the Tokyo Institute of Technology, Nagoya University, Kyushu University, Hokkaido University and the University of Tsukuba.

Institutions from 115 countries and territories are ranked using five different performance indicators: teaching, research environment, research quality, industry and international outlook.

The latest list ranked 2,092 universities across 115 countries and regions, including 185 new entries.

A total of 144 Japanese universities are on the list — 25 fewer than the previous one.

THE praised the top five Japanese universities as “showing strength” but expressed concern that other Japanese universities “face multiple challenges, including declining research quality and student numbers.”

The University of Oxford ranked first for the ninth year in a row, although THE noted that the reputation of the wider U.K. higher education sector is declining, with a similar trend seen among U.S. universities.

Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) rose to second place, replacing Stanford University, which fell to sixth. Following MIT are Harvard University, Princeton University, and the University of Cambridge.