Chemical engineering is one of the most sought after academic subjects for students interested in science, technology and innovation. The QS World University Rankings by Subject 2025 highlight over 450 universities offering great chemical engineering programmes worldwide. The rankings this year reflect significant shifts and changes across the globe, with top universities from Asia, Europe and the US representing the best institutions for students wanting to study chemical engineering. The Tsinghua University in China has jumped into the global top 10 this year, indicating the increasing strength of institutions in Asia that are emerging in leading the global endeavour into chemical engineering studies.
The following table lists over 60 globally ranked universities for pursuing your interest in chemical engineering, along with their location, academic score, AR (academic rank), employer score, and ER (employer rank).
| 2025 | Institution | Country / Territory | Academic | AR rank | Employer | ER Rank |
| 1 | Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) | United States of America | 100.0 | 1 | 100.0 | 1 |
| 2 | Stanford University | United States of America | 94.7 | 2 | 97.0 | 4 |
| 3 | University of Cambridge | United Kingdom | 92.6 | 5 | 97.8 | 3 |
| 4 | National University of Singapore (NUS) | Singapore | 91.0 | 10 | 94.5 | 6 |
| 5 | ETH Zurich - Swiss Federal Institute of Technology | Switzerland | 91.5 | 7= | 96.6 | 5 |
| 6 | University of California, Berkeley (UCB) | United States of America | 94.0 | 3 | 90.7 | 8 |
| 7 | Tsinghua University | China (Mainland) | 87.8 | 15 | 92.0 | 7 |
| 8 | University of Oxford | United Kingdom | 88.8 | 12= | 98.2 | 2 |
| 9 | Imperial College London | United Kingdom | 91.5 | 7= | 89.3 | 13 |
| 10 | Nanyang Technological University, Singapore (NTU) | Singapore | 83.5 | 25 | 90.1 | 9= |
| 11 | Seoul National University | Republic of Korea | 91.5 | 7= | 85.7 | 20 |
| 12 | EPFL | Switzerland | 85.6 | 22 | 89.7 | 12 |
| =13 | California Institute of Technology (Caltech) | United States of America | 91.6 | 6 | 88.8 | 14 |
| =13 | Princeton University | United States of America | 93.1 | 4 | 86.1 | 18 |
| 15 | Peking University | China (Mainland) | 81.0 | 33 | 90.1 | 9= |
| 16 | The University of Manchester | United Kingdom | 87.2 | 18 | 82.0 | 31= |
| 17 | The University of Tokyo | Japan | 87.3 | 16= | 87.7 | 15 |
| =18 | Yale University | United States of America | 84.1 | 24 | 89.8 | 11 |
| =18 | Zhejiang University | China (Mainland) | 78.5 | 42= | 87.6 | 16 |
| 20 | UCL | United Kingdom | 82.4 | 28 | 83.6 | 26 |
| 21 | Delft University of Technology | Netherlands | 86.1 | 19 | 79.0 | 49 |
| 22 | University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) | United States of America | 82.0 | 31 | 83.3 | 28 |
| =23 | Northwestern University | United States of America | 83.0 | 26 | 78.2 | 54= |
| =23 | University of Toronto | Canada | 76.9 | 50 | 87.4 | 17 |
| =25 | KIT, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology | Germany | 87.3 | 16= | 74.1 | 88= |
| =25 | Technical University of Denmark | Denmark | 88.8 | 12= | 69.0 | 101+ |
| 27 | University of Minnesota Twin Cities | United States of America | 90.6 | 11 | 72.2 | 101+ |
| 28 | Georgia Institute of Technology | United States of America | 85.8 | 20 | 76.8 | 69 |
| 29 | Shanghai Jiao Tong University | China (Mainland) | 74.6 | 69= | 86.0 | 19 |
| =30 | KAIST - Korea Advanced Institute of Science & Technology | Republic of Korea | 82.1 | 29= | 82.4 | 30 |
| =30 | University of Texas at Austin | United States of America | 85.7 | 21 | 76.0 | 74= |
| 32 | Fudan University | China (Mainland) | 76.7 | 52= | 83.7 | 25 |
| 33 | KU Leuven | Belgium | 79.7 | 36 | 80.1 | 42 |
| =34 | University of Pennsylvania | United States of America | 80.4 | 35 | 85.0 | 22 |
| =34 | University of Wisconsin-Madison | United States of America | 87.9 | 14 | 74.1 | 88= |
| 36 | Cornell University | United States of America | 76.6 | 55 | 81.7 | 33 |
| 37 | Johns Hopkins University | United States of America | 77.8 | 45= | 85.2 | 21 |
| 38 | Kyoto University | Japan | 79.6 | 37 | 78.7 | 51 |
| =39 | The University of Queensland | Australia | 76.5 | 56 | 76.1 | 72= |
| =39 | University of Chicago | United States of America | 82.1 | 29= | 79.7 | 45 |
| =41 | Politecnico di Milano | Italy | 80.9 | 34 | 80.9 | 36= |
| =41 | Tianjin University | China (Mainland) | 82.7 | 27 | 66.9 | 101+ |
| 43 | Purdue University | United States of America | 79.1 | 38= | 79.3 | 47 |
| =44 | McGill University | Canada | 76.7 | 52= | 80.7 | 38= |
| =44 | University of Michigan-Ann Arbor | United States of America | 77.4 | 48 | 78.1 | 57 |
| 46 | Yonsei University | Republic of Korea | 77.8 | 45= | 77.9 | 60 |
| 47 | The University of New South Wales (UNSW Sydney) | Australia | 71.5 | 84 | 82.0 | 31= |
| 48 | University of British Columbia | Canada | 74.6 | 69= | 82.6 | 29 |
| =49 | Columbia University | United States of America | 76.4 | 57 | 79.1 | 48 |
| =49 | Monash University | Australia | 74.8 | 67 | 77.7 | 62 |
| 51 | The University of Hong Kong | Hong Kong SAR, China | 71.0 | 89 | 84.3 | 23= |
| 52 | The University of Melbourne | Australia | 73.9 | 74 | 83.5 | 27 |
| =53 | Pennsylvania State University | United States of America | 75.3 | 64 | 77.0 | 67= |
| =53 | Pohang University of Science And Technology (POSTECH) | Republic of Korea | 78.5 | 42= | 77.4 | 64= |
| 55 | Technical University of Munich | Germany | 76.1 | 59 | 76.7 | 70 |
| 56 | University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign | United States of America | 75.2 | 65= | 78.2 | 54= |
| 57 | Korea University | Republic of Korea | 75.2 | 65= | 74.9 | 82= |
| 58 | National Taiwan University (NTU) | Taiwan | 74.3 | 72 | 78.3 | 52= |
| 59 | Eindhoven University of Technology | Netherlands | 78.8 | 40= | 69.4 | 101+ |
| =60 | KTH Royal Institute of Technology | Sweden | 76.3 | 58 | 71.4 | 101+ |
| =60 | University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB) | United States of America | 81.8 | 32 | 65.5 | 101+ |
| 62 | Technische Universität Berlin (TU Berlin) | Germany | 78.3 | 44 | 68.1 | 101+ |
| 63 | The University of Edinburgh | United Kingdom | 74.7 | 68 | 78.0 | 58= |
The 2025 QS rankings provide clarity and reveal how chemical engineering is becoming a fully global endeavour, with world class institutions across various regions. Students can now access an opportunity to study at institutions that are shaping the future of technology.
