Helsinki University drops from world´s top 100 universities list

The University of Helsinki failed to secure place in the list of the best 100 universities in the world this year, according to the Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU), known as Shanghai Ranking published on Saturday.

The university was included in the list of 101-150 best universities in the 2026 ranking, which secured 94^th place in 2025 and 99^th place in 2024 after falling drastically in the previous six years.

Earlier, the university was in the list of 101-150 best universities in the 2023 ranking, which was 92^nd in 2022, 82nd in 2021, 74th in 2020, 63rd in 2019, 57th in 2018 and 56^th in 2017 and 2016.

The University of Helsinki, however, was ranked as the best university in Finland like the past, followed by University of Turku (ranked in the bracket of 301 to 400), Aalto University, University of Oulu (ranked in the bracket of 401 to 500), University of Tampere and University of Eastern Finland (ranked in the bracket of 501 to 600).

Harvard University ranked top on the list for the 24^th consecutive year, followed by Stanford University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), University of Cambridge, University of California, Berkeley, University of Princeton, University of Oxford, University of Columbia, University of Chicago and California Institute of Technology.

Since 2003, ARWU has been presenting the world's top universities annually based on transparent methodology and objective third-party data.

It has been recognized as the precursor of global university rankings and the most trustworthy one. This year, more than 2500 institutions were scrutinized, and the best 1000 universities in the world are published.