Top Iranian universities in THE WUR by international outlook

Top Iranian universities in THE WUR by international outlook

TEHRAN –The Times Higher Education (THE) World University Rankings (WUR) by international outlook 2025 has ranked 85 Iranian universities among the top universities in the world.

Oxford holds on to the top spot for the ninth consecutive year, bolstered by significant improvements in industry engagement and teaching. 

Massachusetts Institute of Technology rises to second place, overtaking Stanford, which drops to sixth.

China edges closer to the top 10, further boosting its global research influence.

Australia’s top five universities all slip down the rankings, due to declining reputation and international outlook.

Three new countries join the top 200 – Brazil, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates – highlighting the rise of emerging markets in higher education.

The Ranking includes 18 carefully calibrated performance indicators that measure an institution’s performance across five core pillars of evaluation: teaching (evaluates teaching reputation, student-to-staff ratio, doctorate-to-bachelor ratio, doctorate-to-staff ratio and institutional income), Research Environment (focuses on research reputation, income, and productivity), Research Quality (includes citation impact, research strength, research excellence, and influence), Industry (measures income from industry partnerships and patents), International Outlook (accounts for international students, staff and co-authorship).

Sharif University of Technology (with a global ranking of 301- 350) tops the universities of the country.

Amirkabir University of Technology and Iran University of Science and Technology, both with a global ranking of 351–400, are placed second.

Kermanshah University of Medical Sciences, and the University of Tehran, with a global ranking of 401-500, rank third.

Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz University of Technology, and Babol Noshirvani University of Technology rank 501-600 globally.

THE ranking by subject

THE World University Rankings 2025 has placed 81 Iranian universities among the top universities in the world in 10 out of 11 subject areas, compared to 73 universities in 2024.

These ten subject rankings include arts and humanities; business and economics; clinical and health; computer science; education; engineering; life sciences; physical sciences; psychology; and social sciences. The eleventh subject is Law.

Iran’s best rankings are in Computer Science, and Engineering.

University of Tehran (401-500), Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, and Shahid Beheshti University (501-600), Allameh Tabatabaei University and University of Isfahan (601), are ranked first to third in Art and Humanities. 

University of Tehran (201-250), Sharif University of Technology (301-400), Ferdowsi University of Mashhad and Iran University of Science and Technology (401-500), are the top four institutions in Business and Economics.

Sharif University of Technology (151-175), University of Tehran (201 -250), Amirkabir University of Technology (251-300) are placed first to third in Computer Science, respectively.

Sharif University of Technology (151-175), University of Tehran (201-250), and Iran University of Science and Technology (251-300) are ranked first to third in Engineering, respectively.

In Life Sciences, Gorgan University of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources,  Kermanshah University of Medical Sciences, and University of Tehran ranked first nationally; they rank 401-500 globally.

Kermanshah University of Medical Sciences and Tehran University of Medical Sciences jointly rank first (301-400), Qazvin University of Medical Sciences and Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences rank second (401-500) in Medical and Health.

Iran University of Science and Technology, Sharif University of Technology, and University of Tehran ranked first (301-400 globally) in Physical Science.

In Psychology, University of Tehran (401-500) is placed first. Ferdowsi University of Mashhad,  Iran University of Medical Sciences, Kharazmi University,  Shahid Beheshti University,  University of Social Welfare and Rehabilitation Sciences are placed next, with a global ranking of 501-600.

The top three universities in Social Science are University of Tehran  (301-400), University of Tabriz (401-500), Ferdowsi University of Mashhad,  and Shiraz University (501-600). 

THE Interdisciplinary Science Rankings

THE Interdisciplinary Science Rankings (ISR) has placed 29 Iranian universities among the top institutions worldwide for interdisciplinary science research.

ISR is a project launched in association with Schmidt Science Fellows; it has ranked a total of 749 universities from 92 countries.

University of Tehran with a global ranking of 77 is placed first in the country. 

Shiraz University (ranked 132 globally) Razi University (174), Ferdowsi University of Mashhad (187), University of Tabriz (201-250) ranked second to fifth, respectively.

Shahid Chamran University of Ahvaz, and Urmia University are ranked joint sixth with a global ranking of 251-300.

The Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) Asia University Rankings 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.

MT/MG

source: tehrantimes.com