TEHRAN –The Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) Asia University Rankings has placed 32 Iranian universities in the list of top universities in 2025, compared to 31 universities in 2024.

Published annually since 2009, the QS Asia University Rankings highlight the top universities in Asia each year. 

University of Tehran (with a global ranking of 87) is placed first among Iranian universities, followed by Sharif University of Technology (ranking 97 globally) and Amirkabir University of Technology (ranking 114 globally), Mehr news agency reported.

Isfahan University of Technology, Shiraz University, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, University of Tabriz, Shahid Beheshti University, and University of Isfahan are ranked fourth to tenth, respectively. 

A total of 984 universities from Asia are included in this year’s QS Asia University Rankings.

Peking University has been ranked as the best university in the region. The University of Hong Kong and National University of Singapore are ranked second and third, respectively. 

The methodology used to create the ranking is similar to that used for the QS World University Rankings.

This set of criteria, developed in consultation with regional experts and stakeholders, is designed to reflect key priorities for universities in Asia.

The 11 indicators used to compile the QS Asia University Rankings are as follows. Academic reputation (30%), Employer reputation (20%), Faculty/students ratio (10%), International research network (10 percent), Cited per paper (10 percent), Paper per faculty (5 percent), Staff with PhD (5 percent), proportion of international faculty (2.5 percent), proportion of international students (2.5 percent), proportion of inbound exchange students (2.5 percent), and proportion of outbound exchange of students (2.5 percent).

Recent rankings

The Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2025 placed 85 Iranian universities among the top institutions compared to 75 universities in 2024.

The 2025 rankings include 2,092 ranked universities from 115 countries. There are 185 new entries compared with last year.

Recognized as the world’s most comprehensive evaluation of university performance, the latest methodology includes 18 carefully calibrated indicators to assess institutions across five key areas: teaching, research environment, research quality, industry engagement, and international outlook.

Sharif University of Technology  ranked first in the country with a global ranking of 301-350.

Amirkabir University of Technology, and Iran University of Science and Technology (ranking globally 351 –400) were placed second.

Kermanshah University of Medical Science, and University of Tehran were placed third with a global ranking of 401- 500.

Babol Noshirvani University of Technology, Shiraz University of Technology, and Tehran University of Technology were ranked joint fourth, they ranked 601-800, globally.

A total of 100 universities from Iran were ranked by EduRank based on research outputs, non-academic prominence, and alumni influence.

The rankings were determined by analyzing 14.9 m citations received by 1.26 m academic publications made by 310 universities from Iran, the popularity of 867 recognized alumni, and the largest reference database available.

This year, 14131 universities from 183 countries were ranked across 246 topics.

According to the report University of Tehran, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, and Sharif University of Technology were the best universities in the country, IRIB reported.

The Performance Ranking of Scientific Papers for World Universities, also known as the National Taiwan University (NTU) Rankings,  placed 21 Iranian institutions among the top 1,200 universities worldwide, compared to 18 universities in 2023.

University of Tehran won the best ranking among Iranian institutions, ranking 291 globally.  

University of Tehran ranked 30 in chemical engineering as well as energy science and engineering, 34 in mechanical engineering, and 73 in agriculture.

Tehran University of Medical Sciences (with a global ranking of 359), Kurdistan University of Medical Sciences ( 491), Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences(540), and Tarbiat Modarres University (577) were placed second to fifth, respectively.

Tehran University of Medical Science’s best ranking globally was 22 in pharmacology and toxicology.

Moreover, Khajeh Nasir Toosi University of Technology and Yasouj University were among the top 1200 institutions in the world based on full-time academic staff.

The 2024-2025 edition of Best Global Universities rankings included 69 Iranian universities, up from 52 in 2023, among the world’s 2,250 top universities.

These institutions from 104  countries were ranked based on 13 indicators that measure their academic research performance and their global and regional reputations which helps students to explore the higher education options that exist beyond their own countries’ borders and to compare key aspects of schools’ research missions.

University of Tehran (with a global ranking of 275), Islamic Azad University (374), Sharif University of Technology and Tehran University of Medical Sciences (516), University of Tabriz (521), and Amirkabir University of Technology (649) ranked first to fifth in the country, respectively.

Shanghai ranking 2024 placed nine Iranian universities among the top 1,000 institutions worldwide.

The 2024 Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU) was released by ShanghaiRanking Consultancy.

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 2,500 institutions were scrutinized, and the best 1,000 universities in the world were published.

Tehran University of Medical Sciences and University of Tehran, which were among the top 500 universities in the world with a rank of 401–500, were placed top in the country.
Tarbiat Modares University (601–700) was placed second.

Iran University of Medical Sciences, Shahid Beheshti of Medical Sciences, and Sharif University of Technology with a ranking of 701-800, shared the third rank in the country.

Amirkabir University of Technology, Iran University of Science and Technology, and University of Tabriz (901 –1000) were ranked joint fourth.

According to data released by Web of Science (WoS), Iran’s ranking in Quantum Science and Technology publications improved from 23 in 2014 to 16 in 2023, placing the country top among Islamic nations in all quantum technology fields.

Iran’s best global ranking was in quantum remote sensing technology. The country was ranked eighth worldwide.

The country’s other global ranking included photonic network technologies, 17; superconducting circuits, 18; spin qubit, 16; neutral (cold) atoms, 21; Trapped ions, 19; quantum key distribution, 24; quantum repeater, 26; quantum clock, 12; quantum imaging, 14; and quantum radar, 15.

The Times Higher Education (THE)  included 33 universities from Iran among the top 1,500 universities pursuing sustainable development goals (SDG) compared to 27 universities in 2023.

THE evaluated 2,152 universities from 125 countries to produce the overall Impact Ranking for 2024.

A total of 29 Iranian universities were mentioned in the overall table including Alzahra University, Iran University of Medical Sciences, and Kerman University of Medical Sciences (ranking 401- 600); Mazandaran University of Medical Sciences, University of Mohaghegh Ardabili, and University of Tehran (ranking 601 -800); Ahvaz Jundishapur University of Medical Sciences, Kermanshah University of Medical Sciences, Shahid Beheshti University, Sharif University of Technology, University of Kurdistan, Zanjan University of Medical Sciences (ranking 801-1000), Mehr news agency reported.

Amirkabir University of Technology and Sharif University of Technology achieved the highest ranking in industry innovation and infrastructure, placing 27th.

MT/MG