THE World University Rankings 2026
Posted on behalf of: Internal Communications
Last updated: Thursday, 9 October 2025

The Times Higher Education (THE) has today (Thursday 9 October) released its World University Rankings 2026.
Sussex remains in the top 12% of institutions worldwide in the new league table, putting us in the 201-250 range out of almost 2,200 universities included in the ranking. We are also ranked joint 27th in the UK, one down from last year’s position.
The rankings, which have been running since 2004, are published annually by THE. They assess a university's performance in five categories, each of which represents a key area of higher education excellence: teaching, research environment, research quality, industry, and international outlook.
The University has once again demonstrated excellent performance in the International Outlook category, ranking 42nd worldwide. We have also been ranked 133rd for Research Quality, and continued to improve in Teaching Quality, climbing 75 places to 562nd globally.
Vice-Chancellor, Professor Sasha Roseneil, said: “The University of Sussex is a truly global university, with a community of students and staff from over 170 countries, where we carry out ground-breaking research that is shaping agendas and making a difference to people around the world. I am very pleased that our international standing for research is recognised in the latest THE World University Rankings, and to see our rise in 75 places for teaching quality. Our global orientation will be at the heart of delivering the ambitions of our new strategy, Sussex 2035: Creating Progressive Futures- flourishing, sustainability and progress for the whole world."