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• United States’ MIT in first place for interdisciplinary science for second consecutive year��

• United States dominates top 10 with seven universities, driven by country’s prestige for interdisciplinary research��

• 911 universities ranked from 94 countries/territories, up from 749 institutions and 92 countries last year��

• Strong participation highlights the growing recognition of interdisciplinary research as central to academic and societal progress��

• Interdisciplinary scope expanded to include non-STEM disciplines, in response to university engagement����

• India is the most represented country in the ranking, with 88 institutions ranked��

• Bolivia, Costa Rica, Kenya, Luxembourg, Oman, Panama, Tanzania and Yemen make their debut in the ranking this year��

• In association with Schmidt Science Fellows, the THE Interdisciplinary Science Rankings (ISR) was created to improve scientific excellence and collaboration across disciplines and aims to help universities benchmark their interdisciplinary scientific work��

• Launched in 2024, the ISR framework was developed in consultation with global university leaders to assess interdisciplinarity across three key pillars��

• Crossing traditionally narrow academic disciplines is widely seen as an important new way to stimulate scientific breakthroughs and to help tackle some of the world’s most pressing challenges��

• Schmidt Science Fellows works with the global scientific community to help break down barriers to interdisciplinary science

Top 10 universities overall in the Interdisciplinary Science Rankings 2026��

N/A means the institution was not ranked in 2025��

If you reproduce any part of these ranking tables or charts, please attribute it to “51�Թ� Interdisciplinary Science Rankings 2026 in association with Schmidt Science Fellows”, and link to the full list on our website.

The United States once again dominates the top of the 51�Թ� Interdisciplinary Science Rankings (ISR) 2026 table, released today.

Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) retains first place from last year’s inaugural ranking, while Stanford University remains in second place. In total the United States occupies seven of the top 10 positions.��

California Institute of Technology and the University of California, Berkeley take third and fourth places respectively, while Duke University and Georgia Institute of Technology are sixth and seventh. Purdue University West Lafayette takes the 10th spot.��

The country’s strong overall performance is driven by its high scores in the outputs pillar – with 13 US institutions ranking in the top 20 for this pillar – which measures the number and share of interdisciplinary science research publications, the citations of interdisciplinary science research and the reputation of support for interdisciplinary teams. The US performs particularly well on this last metric, which is based on a survey of active researchers. The respondents were asked to name up to five institutions that are the best globally in terms of interdisciplinary science research.

Singapore’s Nanyang Technological University, Singapore is in fifth position and is Asia’s highest ranked university, while National University of Singapore is ranked eighth. Both institutions achieve perfect scores when it comes to their measures of interdisciplinary success, one of the metrics in the process pillar; this could include, for example, aspects like successful project funding bids that involve interdisciplinary teams. They also achieve high scores for their volume of interdisciplinary publications and their reputation for interdisciplinary science research.

Meanwhile, Wageningen University & Research in the Netherlands is ninth, making it the highest-ranked institution in Europe. It is ranked first in the outputs pillar, thanks to the strong volume and quality of its interdisciplinary publications, and also achieves a high score for the amount of research funding from industry.��

Europe has five universities in the global top 20: Italy with two and the Netherlands, Germany and Switzerland with one each.��

While Singapore is the only Asian nation to feature in the top 10, Hong Kong, Thailand and Saudi Arabia feature in the top 20, bringing the total of Asian nations to five. Asian institutions dominate the top of the inputs pillar, which includes metrics on the proportion of research income devoted to interdisciplinary science research and the amount of industry funding for science.��

City University of Hong Kong in Hong Kong and King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals in Saudi Arabia shared the top positions in the inputs pillar, owing to their internal funding structures that have translated into significant research funding apportioned for interdisciplinary research projects, as well as structured partnerships offices that focus on human capital for interdisciplinary research centres and projects.��

Meanwhile Duke University in the US, IMT Atlantique in France and Cyprus International University in Northern Cyprus are joint first in the process pillar. These institutions are home to numerous physical facilities for interdisciplinary teams such as collaborative research centers and hubs, robust administrative support for managing such teams and tenure promotion systems for recognising interdisciplinary research.��

This year, in response to university engagement and feedback, the interdisciplinary scope has been broadened to cover any research project that comprises multiple scientific disciplines, or one or more scientific disciplines combined with one or more of the following non-STEM disciplines: social sciences, education, psychology, law, economics, or clinical and health.��

The 2026 ranking results show a clear upward trajectory in interdisciplinarity worldwide. While high-income systems, particularly universities in the US, continue to lead the ranking, representation and improvement across universities from upper- and lower-middle-income countries signal a broadening global base. Smaller and coordinated systems such as Singapore and Hong Kong achieved outstanding performance through focused investment and collaboration, while rapidly transforming educational systems such as those seen in India, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan have seen more ranked universities in 2026, and experienced a higher median overall score as compared to ISR 2025. Ranking movements in ISR 2026 clearly reflect strategic institutional choices, as detailed in the regional highlights below.��

The top 100 has representation from all six continents. Following Asia’s lead of 49 institutions in the top 100, Northern America has the second highest number of universities at the top of the table, with 24 ranked; followed by Europe with 15, Africa and Latin America with five each and Oceania with three (note: there are 101 universities ranked in the top 100 as three are tied at joint 99th place).��

The top 200 follows a similar pattern: Asia leads with 104 universities, Europe has the second highest number, with 42 institutions ranked, then Northern America with 27, Africa with 15, Latin America with eight and Oceania with four.��

Overall, Asia has 478 universities in ISR 2026, more than half the total number of universities ranked, making it the most-represented continent by a long way. In total, Europe has 203 institutions ranked, Africa has 98, Latin America 79, Northern America 48 and Oceania five.��

India is the most-represented country in the ranking, with 88 institutions ranked. Of the 10 most-represented countries, seven are from Asia, while Africa, Europe and North America each take one spot.��

In association with Schmidt Science Fellows, the THE Interdisciplinary Science Rankings was created to recognise, incentivise and celebrate interdisciplinary science in higher education across the globe. Alongside the ranking, THE and Schmidt Science Fellows have published a white paper analysing insights from the data and participating institutions.��

Schmidt Science Fellows is an initiative of Schmidt Sciences, delivered in partnership with the Rhodes Trust.��

Phil Baty, THE’s chief global affairs officer, said: “Scientific research that breaks down academic silos and crosses traditional disciplines is increasingly understood to be essential for the next generation of big breakthroughs and the key to solving the world’s most pressing problems. The world’s biggest challenges are highly complex, and require cutting-edge knowledge and fresh ideas from a wide range of specialisms.����

“The Interdisciplinary Science Rankings are designed to give interdisciplinary research more visibility, to shine a light on teachable best practices and to incentivise universities to further push the boundaries of human understanding.����

“So it is hugely heartening to see so many universities embrace this data-driven exercise to demonstrate their commitment to interdisciplinarity – and to celebrate their leadership of the movement. What’s particularly exciting is the sheer diversity of participation, from across the continents, including the global north and south, all with insights and best practices to share.”����

Wendy Schmidt, co-founder of Schmidt Sciences and Schmidt Science Fellows, said: “Interdisciplinary science isn’t only a way to pursue discovery: it’s a way to restructure our institutions of learning to encourage new questions and perspectives on how the world and all its systems are interconnected.��

��“The universities in this year’s Interdisciplinary Science Rankings have created environments that nurture this new way of seeing and the groundbreaking discoveries it can bring.”