Purdue continues as No. 32 among U.S. research universities, only Indiana university in global top 100 in 2026 Times Higher Education rankings

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — Purdue University, driven by gains in research excellence and industry engagement, maintained its hold as Indiana’s top-ranked research university, while coming in at No. 32 among U.S. research institutions in the 2026 Times Higher Education World University Rankings.

At No. 127 globally just four years ago, Purdue is now ranked 85th globally and is the only university in Indiana in the top 100 globally, based on Times Higher Education rankings released Thursday (Oct. 9). The state’s other two major research institutions, the University of Notre Dame and Indiana University, globally were ranked 194th and 198th, respectively.

“Research excellence and impact are core to our academic mission, and our many close collaborations with industry partners benefit our students enormously,” said Purdue Provost Patrick Wolfe. “With record numbers of undergraduate, master’s and doctoral students applying to Purdue this past year, I’m confident we’ll continue to gain ground amongst the nation’s leading research universities.”

The World University Rankings are produced annually by Times Higher Education and have been compiled since 2004. The 2026 edition ranked 2,191 institutions worldwide using 18 indicators that measure an institution’s performance across areas such as teaching, research environment, research quality, international outlook and industry engagement.

Purdue continued to score highly in research excellence (publications among the top 10% most cited) and influence (the importance of other papers citing a Purdue researcher’s work). At the same time, the metric gauging doctoral degree-to-faculty and student-to-faculty ratios improved, and the industry metric also rose, aided by the income and patents categories.

This global recognition from Times Higher Education is the latest among several impressive accolades that Purdue has garnered the past year:

• Purdue was named the No. 1 most recognized public university in the U.S. and No. 6 overall in the world in the 2025 Global University Visibility rankings by American Caldwell.
• Purdue remained in elite company, ranking No. 25 in the U.S. in QS World University Rankings.
• For the second year in a row, Purdue placed fifth internationally and in the top four for U.S. universities in U.S. patents received.
• Purdue remained in the top 5 in the U.S. for the fourth straight year for patents; No. 7 worldwide.

“Times Higher Education’s World University Rankings is one measure of the quality and impact of academic research,” said Dan DeLaurentis, Purdue’s executive vice president for research. “Purdue’s performance in this 2026 edition once again is more evidence of our faculty’s world-leading and influential work and their commitment to create innovative and meaningful real-life applications.”

About Purdue University

Purdue University is a public research university leading with excellence at scale. Ranked among top 10 public universities in the United States, Purdue discovers, disseminates and deploys knowledge with a quality and at a scale second to none. More than 106,000 students study at Purdue across multiple campuses, locations and modalities, including more than 57,000 at our main campus locations in West Lafayette and Indianapolis. Committed to affordability and accessibility, Purdue’s main campus has frozen tuition 14 years in a row. See how Purdue never stops in the persistent pursuit of the next giant leap — including its integrated, comprehensive Indianapolis urban expansion; the Mitch Daniels School of Business; Purdue Computes; and the One Health initiative — at https://www.purdue.edu/president/strategic-initiatives.