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UK universities continue to slip down international league table

4 March 2013

The number of UK universities in the world's top 100 based has fallen for a second successive year, according to new reputation-based rankings released today by Times Higher Education.

UCU said that while the UK continued to punch above its weight on the global stage, the government had to recognise the advances being made in other countries, particularly those investing more in their higher education sectors.

The union added that a spate of negative headlinesabout the UK threatening to deport students, coupled with changes to how students are classified for migration figures, will not have enhanced the UK's reputation on the international stage.

There are now just nine UK universities in the world's top 100, compared to 10 last year and 12 in 2011. The University of Leeds dropped out this year, joining the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and the University of Sheffield who fell last year.

US and UK institutions dominate the top positions with Harvard once again crowned the world's best university based on reputation alone. The University of Cambridge held on to third spot overall and remains the UK's number one institution holding off the University of Oxford, which climbed from sixth to fourth. 

UCU general secretary, Sally Hunt, said: 'The UK continues to punch above its weight on the global stage, but while other countries are investing in their universities and moving up global league tables, we face funding crises and damage to our proud reputation for excellence.

'Our higher education sector is a success story and ministers should be doing all they can to help, not hinder, its progress. We won't win the global race unless we invest properly in our universities, as other countries are doing - particularly in the East.

'It is unlikely that recent negative headlines around the world about the UK threatening to deport students, coupled with changes to how students are classified for migration figures, will have done much to enhance our reputation on the international stage.'

Tables

The Times Higher Education World Reputation Rankings 2013

(Copyright Times Higher Education 2013: www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/world-university-rankings/)

2013 Rank

2012 Rank

Institution

Country

1

1

Harvard University

US

2

2

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

US

3

3

University of Cambridge

UK

4

6

University of Oxford

UK

5

5

University of California, Berkeley

US

6

4

Stanford University

US

7

7

Princeton University

US

8

9

University of California, Los Angeles

US

9

8

University of Tokyo

Japan

10

10

Yale University

US

11

11

California Institute of Technology

US

12

12

University of Michigan

US

13

15

Columbia University

US

=14

14

University of Chicago

US

=14

13

Imperial College London

UK

16

=16

University of Toronto

Canada

17

=16

Cornell University

US

18

19

University of Pennsylvania

US

19

18

Johns Hopkins University

US

=20

21

University College London

UK

=20

22

ETH Zürich - Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Zürich

Switzerland

22

=23

National University of Singapore

Singapore

23

20

Kyoto University

Japan

24

=23

University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign

US

25

29

London School of Economics and Political Science

UK

26

37

Carnegie Mellon University

US

=27

32

University of Texas at Austin

US

=27

28

University of Washington

US

29

34

New York University

US

30

27

University of Wisconsin-Madison

US

=31

=25

University of British Columbia

Canada

=31

33

Duke University

US

=31

=25

McGill University

Canada

34

36

University of California, San Diego

US

35

30

Tsinghua University

China

36

=39

University of Hong Kong

Hong Kong

37

35

Northwestern University

US

38

41

Georgia Institute of Technology

US

39

43

University of Melbourne

Australia

40

31

University of California, San Francisco

US

41

51-60

Seoul National University

Republic of Korea

=42

=44

Australian National University

Australia

=42

=39

University of Massachusetts

US

44

42

Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München

Germany

45

38

Peking University

China

46

49

University of Edinburgh

UK

47

51-60

University of Manchester

UK

48

=44

University of California, Davis

US

49

50

University of Sydney

Australia

=50

-

Lomonosov Moscow State University

Russian Federation

=50

=47

Purdue University

US

51-60

51-60

Delft University of Technology

Netherlands

51-60

61-70

École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne

Switzerland

51-60

91-100

Middle East Technical University

Turkey

51-60

=47

University of Minnesota

US

51-60

46

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

US

51-60

51-60

Ohio State University

US

51-60

51-60

Osaka University

Japan

51-60

51-60

Pennsylvania State University

US

51-60

51-60

University of California, Santa Barbara

US

51-60

61-70

National Taiwan University

Taiwan

61-70

61-70

Hong Kong University of Science and Technology

Hong Kong

61-70

51-60

Karolinska Institute

Sweden

61-70

61-70

King's College London

UK

61-70

81-90

Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology

Republic of Korea

61-70

81-90

Leiden University

Netherlands

61-70

61-70

University of São Paulo

Brazil

61-70

61-70

University of Southern California

US

61-70

61-70

Technische Universität München

Germany

61-70

51-60

Tohoku University

Japan

61-70

51-60

Tokyo Institute of Technology

Japan

71-80

61-70

Hebrew University of Jerusalem

Israel

71-80

61-70

Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin

Germany

71-80

81-90

Katholieke Universiteit Leuven

Belgium

71-80

71-80

Michigan State University

US

71-80

81-90

Nanyang Technological University

Singapore

71-80

71-80

Université Paris-Sorbonne

France

71-80

61-70

University of Pittsburgh

US

71-80

71-80

University of Queensland

Australia

71-80

71-80

Universität Heidelberg

Germany

81-90

71-80

University of Amsterdam

Netherlands

81-90

91-100

Boston University

US

81-90

81-90

Brown University

US

81-90

81-90

Chinese University of Hong Kong

Hong Kong

81-90

91-100

École Polytechnique

France

81-90

81-90

University of Florida

US

81-90

-

University of New South Wales

Australia

81-90

91-100

Université Pierre et Marie Curie

France

81-90

91-100

Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey

US

81-90

71-80

Utrecht University

Netherlands

81-90

71-80

Washington University in St Louis

US

91-100

91-100

University of Bristol

UK

91-100

-

Freie Universität Berlin

Germany

91-100

81-90

Lund University

Sweden

91-100

-

University of Maryland, College Park

US

91-100

-

Monash University

Australia

91-100

91-100

Université Paris-Sud

France

91-100

71-80

Texas A&M University

US

91-100

71-80

Uppsala University

Sweden

91-100

91-100

Wageningen University and Research Center

Netherlands

State of the nations: representatives of each country in the top 100

(Copyright Times Higher Education 2013: www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/world-university-rankings/)

Country

Number of top 100 institutions

Top institution

Top institution rank

US

43

Harvard University

1

UK

9

University of Cambridge

3

Australia

6

University of Melbourne

39

Germany

5

Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München

44

Japan

5

University of Tokyo

9

Netherlands

5

Delft University of Technology

51-60

France

4

Université Paris-Sorbonne

71-80

Canada

3

University of Toronto

16

Hong Kong

3

University of Hong Kong

36

Sweden

3

Karolinska Institute

61-70

Switzerland

2

ETH Zürich - Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Zürich

=20

Republic of Korea

2

Seoul National University

41

Singapore

2

National University of Singapore

22

China

2

Tsinghua University

35

Israel

1

Hebrew University of Jerusalem

71-80

Russian Federation

1

Lomonosov Moscow State University

=50

Turkey

1

Middle East Technical University

51-60

Taiwan

1

National Taiwan University

51-60

Belgium

1

Katholieke Universiteit Leuven

71-80

Brazil

1

University of São Paulo

61-70

Times Higher Education World Reputation Rankings contacts:
Matt de Leon or Fran Langdon t: 020 7079 9222; e: timeshighereducation@vancomms.com

Last updated: 10 December 2015

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