Boston University Ranks 41st in Time’s Inaugural Ranking of World’s Top Universities
BU’s global reach and impact make it the 41st best university in the world, says Time magazine’s inaugural school ratings. Photo by Alicia Hamm (COM’26)
Boston University Ranks 41st in Time’s Inaugural Ranking of World’s Top Universities
With emphasis on global engagement, economic impact, and research innovation, BU outpaces several Ivy League schools
Time has ranked Boston University 41st in its list of the World’s Top Universities of 2026, the publication’s first such ranking. BU’s global footprint—measured by both its economic impact and its community of international students and scholars—drove the impressive showing in Time’s and consumer data company Statista R’s compilation of the 100 top universities.
The rankings were compiled and calculated based on three key metrics:
- “Academic capacity & performance,” including per-student spending, per-faculty member research income, faculty-to-student and staff-to-student ratios, and a university’s overall financial resources
- “Innovation and economic impact” globally, measured by things such as the number and value of technological developments generated by a school, its massive open online courses (MOOCs), and the number of alumni in top executive positions at major companies worldwide, and
- “Global engagement,” measured by the number of international students (especially undergraduates) and faculty, as well as international visitors to a university’s website.
“The ranking places emphasis on the extent to which students achieve extraordinary success, for instance in patenting new inventions or rising to leadership roles in business,” Time writes.
To qualify for consideration, schools had to be older than three years, offer bachelor’s degrees, and enroll more than 2,000 students.
The metrics Time used to rank schools align with many of the priorities that BU President Melissa Gilliam highlighted in her first Presidential Address January 28. In that speech, Gilliam laid out her “North Star” vision statement for BU: “Boston University will be the global destination of discovery, education, and human connection—an epicenter where disciplines, communities, and realities merge and visionary thinkers unite to create transformative experiences and solutions for the world’s greatest challenges.”
The Time ranking links to “inspiring and impactful” ideas and technologies from BU researchers, including a BU-developed device that speeds up magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans, a robotic exosuit that can help ease a person’s back pain, and the University’s world-leading research on head trauma and CTE (chronic traumatic encephalopathy).
Time also used its inaugural ranking to advocate that universities eliminate “legacy” admission preferences for children of alumni—a preference BU does not give. By contrast, the University has become a national model for admitting and supporting low-income and first-generation college students, through such initiatives as its Newbury Center, which supports first generation undergrad, grad, and professional students, and the Menino Scholarships and Community Service Awards.
Time placed Oxford University in the United Kingdom as the world’s best university, with US schools rounding out the top six: Yale, Stanford, MIT, the University of Chicago, and Harvard. BU placed ahead of Ivy League Universities Brown (42), Dartmouth (43), and Columbia (54), as well as New York University (83) and Northwestern (96).