Four universities in Belgium are included in the top 100 of Europe's top universities in the QS World University Rankings for 2025. However, the leading university has dropped by six places.
In the more extensive list of the best universities in the world, compiled every year since 2004 by higher education analyst Quacquarelli Symonds and published last month, just one Belgian school made the top 100.
However, since last year, the company has also published a list focussing only on universities based in continental Europe, analysing 685 universities from 42 countries. This ranking includes four Belgian universities: two Dutch-speaking ones, both located in Flanders, and two French-speaking ones, based in Brussels and Wallonia.
How did Belgium-based universities score?
The Catholic University of Leuven (KU Leuven) is the highest-ranking university in Belgium in the 2025 list, however, it dropped from 21st place last year to 27. The historic institution was the only one included in the world ranking published by QS, but here too, it performed worse. After recording its highest result to date in the 2024 list, which saw it leap up by 15 places to the 61st spot, the university now dropped two spots to 63rd place.
In second place among Belgian universities was the University of Ghent (UGent), which moved up from 54 to 47 in the European ranking. It is also Belgium's second-highest-ranking institution globally, ending in 169th place in the 2025 World ranking. However, this was 10 spots lower than in the previous ranking.
Next come two French-speaking institutions, namely UCLouvain – which ended in 75th place, down by seven places since the last European ranking – and ULB in 94th place, dropping no fewer than 14 spots. When looking at the complete list, several other Belgian universities are included: UAntwerpen (109), VUB (114), the University of Liège (165), Hasselt (249), Namur (365), Mons (368) and Saint-Louis (601).
The ranking is based on nine parameters, including academic reputation, reputation as an employer, number of students per faculty, number of international students and international research, among others.
The majority of Belgian universities performed better when it came to academic reputation, but lost points on employer reputation. KU Leuven for example, received a score of 97.9 for its academic achievements but a much lower grade for how it treats staff (79.9), bringing down its overall score to 83.3.
Zooming out to include all universities, ETH Zurich (Swiss Federal Institute of Technology) moved up from second to first place this year, dethroning Oxford University, where Belgium's Princess Elisabeth is completing her three-year bachelor's degree in history and politics, to third place. Imperial College London also went up, now landing in second place.
