- In its first ever classification, TIME magazine has placed Aston University within the top 400 institutions in the world
- The QS World University Rankings 2026: Europe has placed the University as 171 out of almost 1,000 institutions
- Aston also scored highly for academic excellence based on citations levels for its research papers globally.
Aston University has been placed in the top 400 globally, and the top 200 across Europe in two newly released higher education rankings.
In its first ever classification, TIME magazine has placed Aston within the top 400 in the world; less than a third of British universities made it on to the list. Meanwhile the QS World University Rankings 2026: Europe placed it as 171 across the continent, out of almost 1,000 institutions.
Both organisations made their announcements public on Wednesday 28 January.
The QS World University Rankings 2026: Europe also scored Aston highly for how often its research papers are used and referenced by other academics. It was placed as 10th in the UK and 21st across the continent for academic impact - an increase of 18 places nationally and 28 places in regionally.
Professor Aleks Subic, Vice-Chancellor and Chief Executive of Aston University said “We are delighted to be shortlisted among leading universities by TIME magazine in its first global university rankings. And to be ranked within the top 200 out of almost 1,000 European institutions in the QS World University Rankings 2026 Europe is an exceptional achievement for Aston University highlighting our focus on academic excellence and real-world impact.
“During the past few years, we have driven advancements and growth in our high impact internationally recognised research performance, and our recruitment of high-quality academic and research staff. This has now placed Aston alongside some of the top institutions in Europe and UK for academic excellence measured by citations per published refereed scholarly paper.”
The QS World University Rankings 2026: Europe was launched in 2024 and is a specific regional ranking by Quacquarelli Symonds which is a global higher education analysis company.
Meanwhile TIME magazine, which was founded in 1923, shortlists organisations around three key pillars: academic capacity & performance, innovation & economic impact, and global engagement. The ranking reflects not only how strong universities are academically but also how effectively they convert that strength into real-world innovation, economic value, and global reach. The magazine’s ranking aims to reflects not only how strong universities are academically but also how effectively they convert that strength into real-world innovation, economic value, and global reach.
The new success follows Aston Business School being named as among the top 100 in the 2025 Financial Times (FT) European Business Schools in November 2025. The School is part of an elite group of global business schools that hold the gold standard of ‘triple-crown’ accreditation from AACSB, AMBA and EQUIS. Last year it was placed 11th in the UK in the 2025 Eduniversal Business School Rankings.