British universities slip down in global rankings
British universities have slipped down the latest international rankings, with only Cambridge making it into the top five institutions in the world – taking joint third place in a list dominated by big American universities.
According to the QS World University Rankings, regarded as the most authoritative of its kind, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is once again named the best university in the world, with Harvard climbing to second place from fourth last year.
The UK still has four universities in the top 10 in the world. One of the biggest casualties, however, was London’s Imperial College, which in 2014 was ranked equal second with Cambridge but this year dropped to eighth position because of a change in the methodology used to rate universities.
Oxford University and University College London (UCL) have both slipped down the tables; having been ranked equal fifth last year, Oxford slipped to sixth and UCL to seventh. Kings College London, ranked 16th in 2014, has dropped three places to 19.
Stanford University in California comes in at joint third with Cambridge, climbing from seventh last year; the California Institute of Technology is fifth, with ETH Zurich (the Federal Swiss Institute of Technology) in ninth place and Chicago University in 10th.
UK winners include the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), which climbs from 71 to 35, a beneficiary of the changes to the QS methodology.
Previously the QS rankings favoured universities strong in research, which is generated largely by the medical sciences, but changes have been made in order to give better recognition to institutions that are outstanding in arts and humanities but produce few citations.
As a result, Imperial, a leading research-intensive institution which produces an impressive array of citations every year, dropped six places despite performing well in every other respect.
Warwick University enters the world’s top 50 at 48, up from 61 last year; Durham moves up from 92 to 61, St Andrews is at 68 from 88 last year and Southampton takes 81st position, up from 94.
Two Singaporean universities make the top 15 for the first time; the National University of Singapore (12) is the top Asian institution with Nanyang Technological University at 13.
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