UC Berkeley Ranked World’s Top Public University by ‘U.S. News’

UC Berkeley is the top public university in the world and the sixth best university overall, according to the latest U.S. News & World Report rankings of the best universities from around the globe. 

Harvard, MIT and Stanford University claimed the top three spots worldwide, followed by the University of Oxford and the University of Cambridge in the U.K. Ranked below Berkeley were University College London in the U.K. and the University of Washington, Yale University and Columbia University in the U.S.

After Berkeley, the world’s top public universities include the University of Washington in eighth place overall, UCLA (13th) and UCSF (16th), among other schools.

The 2025-2026 best global universities rankings evaluated more than 2,250 institutions from the U.S. and around the world on 13 indicators of academic research performance and global and regional reputation. On a scale of zero to 100, Berkeley’s global score was 86.4. The campus placed sixth for its global research standing and third for its regional research reputation.

Among other indicators, the U.S. News & World Report global university rankings evaluate universities on publications, books, conferences, cited papers and international collaboration.

Across 34 subject ratings, Berkeley ranked second in space science; fourth in biology and biochemistry and physics; sixth in environment/ecology; and seventh in mathematics and ecology.

The U.S. News & World Report global university rankings are distinct from the publication’s rankings of the best American colleges and universities, which are released each year in September.