UK unis ranked highly

The UK is home to nearly a 10th of the most prestigious universities in the world, but there are warnings that their status among the global elite “is not guaranteed”.

New international rankings, based on reputation, include nine UK institutions.

Oxbridge continues to dominate, with Cambridge the top ranked UK university in this year’s Times Higher Education World Reputation Rankings, taking fourth place, with Oxford in fifth.

Two other UK institutions - both in London - University College London (joint 18th) and Imperial College London (20th), made it into the top 20.

But Phil Baty, THE’s editorial director of global rankings, warned that while the nation has some of the most prestigious universities in the world, these institutions have either “fallen down the global pecking order, or stayed static”.

The rankings look at each institution’s reputation for research and teaching, based on a survey of more than 10,100 academics in 138 countries.

Other UK universities to make it into the top 100 this year were the London School of Economics and Political Science (25th), Edinburgh University (35th), King’s College London (42nd), Manchester University (51-60) and Warwick University (81-90).

Taking top spot again this year was Harvard University in the USA.