TIME Magazine’s 2026 list of the World’s Top Universities included three Texas schools. Here are the 2 that made the Top 50.
In January, TIME Magazine published its 2026 list of The World’s Top Universities, determined by contributors Raj Chetty and John Friedman. The duo made their definitive ranking after researching a variety of factors, including “academic excellence” and economic impact, both of which we’ll go over below. While three Texas schools ultimately made the cut, two received the distinguished honor of making the Top 50: Houston’s Rice University, and the University of Texas at Austin. The announcement comes during a period of turmoil for the latter, which is facing backlash for its decision to consolidate its gender, ethnic, and race programs.
Rice University edged out its Texas-based competition and landed at the No. 24 spot. UT Austin didn’t trail that far behind, though, as it was ranked No. 37 overall. Rice received a total score of 75.78 due to its economic impact, academic performance, and global engagement, among other positive attributes. For UT Austin, a score of 70.72 was calculated based on the university’s local and global economic impacts, as well as its innovation. The third and final Lone Star State university that made the list was Texas A&M University, though it ranked far lower than the others at No. 219 in the world.
Here’s how the rankings were determined
When determining which universities were among the best in the world, TIME Magazine considered factors such as the school’s academic capacity, resources, economic impact, “scholarly output,” “global engagement,” and “academic excellence,” to name a few factors. The San Antonio Express-News thankfully broke that down into simple explanations. Essentially, TIME was looking into the types of university resources available to students and staff alike to aid in research endeavors when deciding how high to score a school on its academic excellence.
For things like global engagement, researchers looked at whether universities had worldwide talent and how much attention it was afforded by its international students and professors. In terms of economic impact, factors such as how much a school was actively contributing to the advancement of technology and science played a key role in the rankings. TIME also considered a university’s “influence on economic decision-making through the careers of their graduates.” San Antonio Express-News noted that the numbers gained in each category were then added together “into a final score used to produce the ranking.”
Rice University earned a score of 74.94 for academic performance and capacity, 78.95 for economic impact and innovation, and 71.36 for global engagement, creating a 75.78 average. The University of Texas at Austin scored a 70.61 for academic performance and capacity, 79.58 for economic impact and innovation, and 44.85 for global engagement, forming an overall average of 70.72.
In terms of Texas A&M’s scoring and placement, the university received a score of 57.29 for academic performance and capacity, 47.27 for economic impact and innovation, and 32.38 for global engagement, earning it the No. 219 spot in the world.
