PUBLISHED ONJune 18, 2026 3:35 AMBYSean LerSingapore universities have performed well overall in the latest Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) World University Rankings 2027, released on Thursday (June 18).
The QS rankings, now in its 23nd edition, features over 1,500 universities across 106 countries and territories, assessing institutions based on several indicators, including academic reputation, employer reputation, and employment outcomes.
A total of 8,808 institutions globally were assessed.
Four universities — the National University of Singapore (NUS), Nanyang Technological University (NTU), Singapore University of Technology and Design (SUTD) and the Singapore Management University (SMU) — were featured in the latest rankings.
Amongst them, SUTD was the most improved university here, climbing 253 places to 266th. Meanwhile, SMU climbed 100 places to 411th.
Two other autonomous universities — the Singapore Institute of Technology (SIT) and the Singapore University of Social Sciences (SUSS) — were not featured in the rankings.
In the latest rankings, NUS fell to 10th place after being jointly displaced from its eighth spot last year by Switzerland's ETH Zurich and the United Kingdom's UCL.
However, it continues to be Asia's only representative in the global top 10 and is the first Asian university to achieve this.
A spokesperson for NUS said the university's strong performance underscores its commitment to nurturing future-ready graduates, advancing research and forming partnerships that create value for society.
"Through close collaboration with industry, government and communities, we will continue to develop solutions to global challenges and create meaningful impact in Singapore and beyond.”
Meanwhile, NTU held on to its 12th spot to remain in the global top 15. In doing so, NTU also attained improvements in its academic and employer reputation indicators.
Responding to AsiaOne's queries, NTU deputy president and provost Professor Christian Wolfrum said the result comes amidst its implementation of the NTU2030 plan.
"The plan is designed around a simple premise: that a university's value is measured by the quality of the minds it attracts and what those minds go on to do," Professor Wolfrum stated.
He said that NTU will continue to place focus on attracting and nurturing outstanding talents working at the frontier of their fields, adding that the university aims to embed AI into 40 per cent of its undergraduate course offerings by 2030, making it the first university in Singapore to adopt artificial intelligence in education at this scale.
SUTD's leap by 253 places is a recognition of its faculty strength and faculty-student ratio, alongside gains in employer reputation, the university said in a statement on Thursday.
Noting the rankings, SUTD president Professor Phoon Kok Kwang said active learning and real-world problem-solving will remain at the heart of its curriculum as it prepares students for a future driven by AI.
"SUTD has always consistently focused on nurturing talents that we are proud of. Our focus remains on our students: how we prepare them to think independently, create boldly as human-centred design innovators and innovator-leaders and be well-placed to secure jobs or start companies in a world being reshaped by AI," Professor Phoon added.
All four universities registered improvements in their employer reputation indicator, which measures their reputation and programmes among employers.
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