ELTE among the 200 best universities of europe

Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) published its latest European university rankings on 28 January. This year, 958 higher education institutions from 42 countries were included, based on 12 evaluated indicators. The QS European rankings are compiled using a methodology similar to that applied in the organization’s other rankings, with the difference that greater emphasis is placed on internationalisation and mobility as key European values.

Based on the 2026 results, Eötvös Loránd University remains the best higher education institution in Hungary and ranks 6th in Eastern Europe. In the overall ranking, ELTE is placed 194th, followed by the University of Szeged (219th), the University of Debrecen (223rd), the Budapest University of Technology and Economics (246th), the University of Pécs (292nd), Széchenyi István University in Győr (399th), Óbuda University (408th), the Hungarian University of Agriculture and Life Sciences (MATE) (410th), and the University of Pannonia (476th).

This year, ELTE outperformed 79.9% of the European institutions assessed overall. Looking at individual indicators, the University ranks 76th in Europe for graduate employability, 105th for incoming student mobility, and 144th for outgoing student mobility. It is ranked 158th for academic reputation and 161st for employer reputation, while placing 171st in sustainability and 198th for international research collaboration.

Within Hungary, ELTE proved to be the top-performing institution not only overall, but also individually in the indicators of academic reputation, graduate employability, international research collaboration, and outgoing student mobility. It ranks second nationally in terms of citation impact, and third in employer reputation, incoming student mobility, and sustainability.

At the continental level, the top three universities are, in order, the University of Oxford, ETH Zurich, and Imperial College London. Seven British, two Swiss, and one French institution made it into the top 10. From Eastern Europe, Charles University in Prague ranked 92nd, the University of Warsaw 113th, Jagiellonian University 126th, Masaryk University 156th, and the Czech Technical University in Prague 181st.

Detailed results broken down by country can be browsed on the QS website. ELTE’s results achieved in national and international rankings are collected on this link.

Source: elte.hu/en