Three New Zealand universities fall in Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2025

• None of New Zealand’s eight ranked universities improve this year
• University of Auckland is out of the top 150
• University of Otago has its worst ever rankings performance.
• University of Oxford is the world’s top-ranked university – coming first for a record-breaking ninth year
• The US has a new leading university, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), ranked 2nd up from 3rd
• More than 2,000 universities are ranked – the largest number ever.
• THE World University Rankings are the most comprehensive, rigorous and balanced global rankings assessing research-intensive universities across 18 performance indicators.

Not a single university in New Zealand has improved its rankings performance this year, while national flagship the University of Auckland has fallen out of the global top 150 for the first time since 2020 in the Times Higher Education (THE) World University Rankings 2025, released today.

Of the country’s eight ranked universities, three declined this year while the other five stayed in the same positions as last year.

New Zealand’s top-ranked University of Auckland falls two places to joint 152^nd, while the University of Otago – the second highest-ranked in the country – drops from band 301–350 to band 351–400, its lowest ever position since it joined the rankings in 2016.

Lincoln University is the other declining institution; it has dropped from 401-500 to 501-600 band this year.

The picture for New Zealand mirrors that of its neighbour, Australia, where the top five universities have declined, with the University of Melbourne experiencing its worst ever performance this year.

New Zealand has one university in the top 200 of the THE World University Rankings 2025, two in the top 400, five in the top 500 and eight in the top 600.

New Zealand universities in the THE World University Rankings 2025

University	Rank 2025	Rank 2024
University of Auckland	=152	=150
University of Otago	351–400	301–350
Auckland University of Technology	401–500	401–500
University of Waikato	401–500	401–500
Victoria University of Wellington	401–500	401–500
Lincoln University (New Zealand)	501–600	401–500
Massey University	501–600	501–600
University of Canterbury	501–600	501–600

= joint

If you reproduce any part of these ranking tables or charts, please attribute it to “Times Higher Education World University Rankings”, and link to the full list on our website (live from 1201 Auckland time, Wednesday 9 October).

In the research quality pillar, the gap between New Zealand and Australian universities has narrowed to the lowest level since 2019.

Both Australia and New Zealand are highly reliant on international students. However, New Zealand’s decline in international students has not abated since 2022.

Years of tight funding settlements, exacerbated by high inflation and recent research cuts, have left New Zealand’s higher education and research sectors in a parlous state. In August, New Zealand announced that visa fees would double for overseas students.

Phil Baty, Times Higher Education’s chief global affairs officer, said: “On the surface, New Zealand has done well in the THE World University Rankings 2025 – attaining a top 200 position, which is a feat only 30 countries managed this year.

“However, its top university has now slipped out of the top 150 and the country’s second-highest university is in its lowest position ever.

“The new National government has unveiled a review of the science sector and universities. The results of this will be critical for the long-term health of the sector and its continued international competitiveness.”

This 21st year of the rankings has 2,092 universities ranked – up from 1,907 last year – from 115 countries and regions. This represents a 9.7 per cent year-on-year increase in the number of ranked universities, the biggest rise in the past five years, and compares with a 6 per cent growth last year.

The THE  World University Rankings 2025 are the most comprehensive, rigorous and balanced global ranking assessing research-intensive universities across 18 performance indicators (metrics), which are divided into five pillars, covering their core missions of teaching, research, knowledge transfer and internationalisation.

The world’s highest-ranked higher education institution is the University of Oxford, which has maintained the top spot for a record nine years in a row. Massachusetts Institute of Technology is the second highest ranked university in the world and in third place is Harvard University.

The top 10 universities in the THE World University Rankings 2025

University	Country	Rank 2025	Rank 2024
University of Oxford	United Kingdom	1	1
Massachusetts Institute of Technology	United States	2	3
Harvard University	United States	3	4
Princeton University	United States	4	6
University of Cambridge	United Kingdom	5	5
Stanford University	United States	6	2
California Institute of Technology	United States	7	7
University of California, Berkeley	United States	8	9
Imperial College London	United Kingdom	9	8
Yale University	United States	10	10

This year 2,860 institutions submitted data, up 6.9 per cent on last year (last year it was 2,674) from 133 countries and territories. The remaining 768 institutions gained ‘reporter’ status, which means, although they submitted data, they did not meet THE’s eligibility criteria to receive a ranking.

THE’s World University Rankings started with 200 universities and now has more than 2,000 making it the most global and inclusive university ranking in the world.