The Weizmann Institute of Science and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem were included among the world’s top 100 universities in the 2026 Shanghai Ranking, published over the weekend. The Weizmann Institute ranked 71st in the world, while the Hebrew University ranked 89th.
By contrast, the Technion dropped out of the top 100 this year, placing in the 101–150 range. Last year, it ranked 97th worldwide. Tel Aviv University is ranked in the 151–200 range this year.
This leaves just two Israeli institutions among the world’s top 100 universities this year, compared with three last year. The Weizmann Institute retained its 71st-place ranking from 2025, while the Hebrew University fell one spot, from 88th to 89th. The Technion, which ranked 85th in 2024 and 97th in 2025, continued its downward trend and dropped out of the top 100.
The Shanghai Ranking, officially known as the Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU), has been published since 2003 and is considered one of the leading international rankings of academic institutions. More than 2,500 universities are evaluated each year, with the top 1,000 published in the ranking.
The ranking focuses primarily on research achievements. Its criteria include the number of alumni and faculty members who have won Nobel Prizes and Fields Medals, the number of highly cited researchers, papers published in the journals Nature and Science, the volume of publications indexed in international research databases, and research performance relative to the size of the institution.
At the top of the global ranking is Harvard University, which has retained the No. 1 position since the ranking was first published. Stanford University ranks second, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) third, and the University of Cambridge fourth. American and British universities continue to dominate the top of the rankings, alongside the continued rise in the number of Chinese universities among the world’s leading institutions.