VCU among the top 250 universities worldwide in new ranking by Time

By David Oglethorpe

The inaugural World’s Top Universities of 2026 listing by news publisher Time has ranked Virginia Commonwealth University at No. 211 globally.

“This new ranking is another example of the global impact of VCU,” said VCU President Michael Rao, Ph.D. “Whether educating the next generation of leaders and global citizens or discovering lifesaving breakthroughs, our students, faculty and staff are continuing to show the world that our university benefits humanity and transforms lives.”

For its new rankings, released in late January, Time studied the outcomes of millions of college students and measured universities on three key pillars: academic capacity and performance, innovation and economic impact, and global engagement.

“Our new ranking reflects the groundbreaking research carried out every day at VCU by our very talented faculty, staff, postdocs and students,” said P. Srirama Rao, Ph.D., vice president for research and innovation. “Our growth over the past five years exemplifies our focus upon team science; knowledge creation; discovery and innovation; social and economic impact; as well as global partnerships. As a result, our research is positively impacting more people every day. VCU continues to be a research powerhouse and a destination for some of the best researchers in the world.”

Transdisciplinary by design, VCU’s research addresses societal challenges and lifts lives locally and globally. And in the past year, VCU crossed the $500 million mark for both sponsored funding and research expenditures.

VCU’s sponsored funding grew by 12% to a record $568 million. The $524 million in research expenditures ranked 46th among public universities and 68th overall, placing VCU among the top 10% of research universities in the country. This growth in expenditures represents a doubling of the research and innovation enterprise in just five years. 

VCU currently has 23 programs and graduate schools ranked in the top 50 for their disciplines by U.S. News and World Report. VCU was also one of 80 public, top-tier (also known as R1) research universities to receive the 2026 Carnegie Community Engagement Classification, highlighting its commitment to advancing community-engaged teaching, research and service. The university is the only Virginia school to offer degrees in each of the health sciences disciplines: health professions, dentistry, medicine, nursing, public health and pharmacy.

VCU was the second-highest ranked university in the state in the Time rankings behind the University of Virginia.