The Catholic University of Leuven and Ghent University both feature in the QS World University Rankings: Europe 2025. KU Leuven drops back to 27th place, while UGent rises to 47th place. Oxford University no longer features as the top European university. ETH Zurich, a Swiss university, has landed the top spot.
The QS World University Rankings have been published since 2004. The rankings are drawn up on the basis of nine parameters, including academic and employer reputation, the number of students per faculty, the number of international students and international research. Since last year, a ranking including only European universities has also been compiled.
ETH Zurich – the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology - features in first place in this year's European ranking, after having to settle for second place last year. The second spot goes to Imperial College London. Oxford University - last year’s number one - drops to third place.
There are two Flemish universities in the top 50. KU Leuven is the highest-ranking Belgian university and occupies position 27, 6 places lower than last year. UGent in turn rises 6 places to 47.
Also included in the European top ranking are the Catholic University of Louvain-la-Neuve (UCLouvain) (75), the Francophone Brussels Free ULB (94), Antwerp University (UAntwerp) (109), the Flemish Brussels Free VUB (114), the University of Liège (165), Hasselt University (UHasselt) (249), the University of Namur (365), the University of Mons (368) and Saint-Louis University In Brussels (601). A total of 685 universities from 42 different countries are included in the ranking. The UK is best represented with 103 universities, followed by Turkey (72) and Germany (53).