Only two Romanian universities included in the Times Higher Education top 1000

Only two Romanian universities, namely the Bucharest University of Economic Studies and the Carol Davila University of Medicine and Pharmacy in Bucharest, appear in the top 1000 of the Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2026, published on Thursday, October 9.

Around 30 higher education institutions from Romania submitted data for the ranking, but only 22 were included in the list of 2,191 universities worldwide. Almost all Romanian universities appear in the last part of the ranking.

ASE Bucharest and UMF Carol Davila appear in the 801–1000 interval, as in previous years.

In total, only seven universities from Romania are listed in the top 1500, compared to ten in the previous edition.

As such, in addition to the two in the top 1000, the following appear in the 1001–1500 range: the University of Bucharest and UMF Craiova (1001–1200), Babeș-Bolyai University of Cluj-Napoca, UMF Iuliu Hațieganu of Cluj-Napoca, and USAMF Cluj-Napoca (1201–1500). Compared to last year, UMF Craiova rises slightly in the second half of the global ranking and swaps intervals with UMF Iuliu Hațieganu.

Falling in the ranking, beyond the 1500 threshold, are Ștefan cel Mare University of Suceava, Transilvania University of Brașov, and West University of Timișoara.

Oxford retains the number one spot in the ranking for the tenth consecutive year, driven by a strong research environment score.

Princeton rose to a joint third place, while China has five universities in the top 40, up from three last year. Moreover, India now has the second-highest number of ranked universities for the first time, behind only the US.

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