Over the year, RTU significantly improved its position, rising from the group **1001–1200** to the group **801–1000**. At the same time, the university's indicators grew in all five categories considered in the ranking. No other university in Latvia managed to enter the top thousand. ### How Latvian universities ranked The University of Latvia (LU) maintained its position in the group **1001–1200**, while Riga Stradiņš University (RSU) rose to the group **1201–1400**. Latvia University of Life Sciences and Technologies (LBTU) ranked below **2001**. Improvements were also recorded for other Latvian universities. The indicators for RSU and LU increased in four assessed categories. LBTU's results improved in three — research environment, research quality, and international outlook, but decreased in the categories of teaching and industry collaboration. ### Latvia's strength — internationality Latvian universities demonstrated their best results in the category of "International Outlook." It is here that each of the four universities received its highest rating. RTU scored **71.2 points** in this category, while RSU scored **66.8 points**. Compared to the previous ranking, the international outlook indicator improved for all four Latvian universities. A total of **2297 universities** were evaluated in the Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2026. Oxford University took first place, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) took second, and Princeton and Stanford universities shared the third position.
