UC Berkeley has been named the top public university in North America for 2026 by Times Higher Education, according to an announcement made on October 8. The university also ranked ninth globally in the same assessment.
This recognition follows a series of similar honors for UC Berkeley. In recent weeks, the campus was also rated as the No. 1 public university in the United States by U.S. News & World Report, the Wall Street Journal, and Forbes. Earlier this year, U.S. News awarded high marks to several of Berkeley’s graduate programs across disciplines such as social sciences, engineering, computer science, and business.
Last month, PitchBook’s 2025 university rankings placed UC Berkeley at the top for the third consecutive year for producing graduates who have founded more venture-backed companies than those from any other undergraduate program worldwide.
Chancellor Rich Lyons commented on the achievement: “We are honored to once again be recognized as one of the world’s best universities, and the top public university in North America. The data affirm the excellence and impact of our extraordinary research enterprise and the extent to which discoveries on the Berkeley campus advance the health, well-being and prosperity of people around the world. So, too, do those data confirm all that Berkeley does as a powerful engine of economic mobility, and a provider of affordable world-class education, accessible to all. That is how and why we lift more students further up the economic ladder than any other university.”
Times Higher Education is a UK-based publication that evaluates colleges and universities worldwide using five criteria: teaching quality, research environment, research quality, international outlook, and industry engagement—including patents and income streams. This year’s analysis covered 2,191 institutions across 115 countries and territories.
UC Berkeley has held Times Higher Education’s top public university ranking in the United States for 10 out of the past 11 years. In this year’s global list—covering both private and public institutions—Berkeley dropped one spot to ninth place after switching positions with Imperial College London.
Among public universities globally, UC Berkeley ranks third behind only Cambridge University and Imperial College London.
The overall global top ten includes: University of Oxford (1), Massachusetts Institute of Technology (2), Princeton University (tied-3), Cambridge (tied-3), Harvard University (tied-5), Stanford University (tied-5), California Institute of Technology (7), Imperial College London (8), UC Berkeley (9), and Yale University (10).
