King’s College London (KCL) placed 38th in the 2026 Times Higher Education (THE) World University Rankings, a drop of two places from 2025.
KCL’s position in the THE rankings has remained relatively stable for the past 10 years. KCL placed 36th in 2025, 28th in 2024 and 35th in 2023, 2022 and 2021. The highest recorded placing for KCL during this period was 27th in 2016.
The University of Oxford claimed the top spot worldwide. The British universities that came above KCL were the University of Cambridge in 3rd, Imperial College London in 8th, University College London in 22nd, and the University of Edinburgh in 29th. KCL ranked fourteen spots ahead of the London School of Economics (52nd). Queen Mary University of London was last out of the London Russell Groups, ranking 134th.
How were universities judged?
In their methodology, THE describes their ranking as:
The only global performance tables that judge research-intensive universities across all their core missions: teaching, research environment, research quality, international outlook and industry.
Important factors such as student-to-staff ratios, research reputation, research strength and industry outcome were all factored into the final table. Furthermore, THE judged universities on their international reputations and collaboration with other universities around the world.
For a university to be included in the ranking, it had to have published at least 1000 relevant publications over the past 5 years, provide undergraduate degrees, as well as postgraduate degrees, and teach multiple subjects.
Over 2000 universities across 115 countries and territories, including over 100 British universities, were included in the final rankings.
THE noted that London-based universities ranked especially highly in their league table, ‘reflecting their research influence and international reputation.’
How did KCL do?
THE profiles each university in detail on its website. In addition to describing KCL as a ‘major research university’, THE remarked that:
KCL is now the largest healthcare learning centre in Europe, incorporating three teaching hospitals and providing a home to more than 27,000 students (including nearly 10,500 postgraduates) from 150 countries who also benefit from its strengths in law, the humanities and social sciences.
KCL’s partnership with 150 other global institutions, in Europe, the USA, China and South America, was mentioned, as was the university’s location in central London.
KCL achieved an overall score of 78.7%. Among the individual criteria that make up the overall score, KCL’s performance varied. Despite reaching 96.9% in international outlook and 95.5% in research quality, KCL only scored 64.2% in teaching. Moreover, KCL could only hover in the low 70s for its research environment and industry scores, at 72.1% and 72.3%, respectively.
THE also produces broad subject rankings. KCL performed best in psychology, ranking 9th. Similar strong performances came in medicine (12th), arts and humanities (24th), and law (27th). KCL ranked in the 30s in three subjects. In both social and life sciences, KCL ranked 32nd, whilst coming in 35th place for education studies.
On the other hand, KCL saw several subjects underperform compared to its overall ranking. In business and economics, KCL ranked 59th; in computer science and physical sciences, KCL ranked 91st and 92nd, respectively. KCL’s worst subject was engineering, where it did not perform well enough to achieve a specific ranking, instead falling into the 126-150th band.
How did KCL do in other league tables?
In the QS World University rankings, KCL achieved a similar position, 31st. In all of the domestic rankings, KCL rose from the previous year. KCL climbed from 28th to 21st in The Guardian’s league table, whilst The Times and Sunday Times Good University Guide placed KCL in 19th place, up five spots. The Complete University Guide also ranked KCL 19th, with KCL also rising five places.
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