[endeavour]

See how far you have to scroll down the list to find an university inside the EU (excluding the UK).

https://www.timeshighereducation.com/world-university-rankin...

[iaskwhy]

Saving you a click: #28 Karolinska Institute, Sweden.

Also: "The Times Higher Education (THE), formerly the Times Higher Education Supplement (THES), is a weekly magazine based in London, reporting specifically on news and issues related to higher education. It is the United Kingdom's leading publication in its field."[0]

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Times_Higher_Education

[m_fayer]

This list omits purely research institutions such as the Max Planck institutes, which as a whole are a behemoth:

Also https://www.timeshighereducation.com/news/the-titans-institu...

[programLyrique]

And CNRS in France. The first British one is University College London, after Max Planck Society and CNRS.

The Nature Index (http://www.natureindex.com/annual-tables/2016/institution/al... ) has CNRS 3rd, then the Max Planck institutes 4th, and the first British one, Oxford, is 7th.