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For the first time, UK is home to the world’s top two universities

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9 years ago

September 5, 2017

By Boluwatife Ezekiel Olaleye

The United Kingdom is home to the world’s top two universities for the first time, after [champs1] took first and second places in a prestigious ranking.

Oxford took the top spot in the Times Higher Education’s 2018 World University Rankings for the second year in a row, having knocked the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) off the top spot last year after it held the position between 2012 and 2016. Cambridge jumped from fourth to second place.

Meanwhile, Caltech came joint third with Stanford University.

Times Higher Education (THE) said one of the reasons Oxbridge had jumped was thanks to an increase in both institutions’ total income, which rose 24 per cent for Oxford and 11 per cent for Cambridge.

Imperial College took third place in the UK and eighth overall, while University College London came fourth in the UK, and 16th globally.

Institution	Rank 2018	Previous year
University of Oxford	1	1
University of Cambridge	2	4
Imperial College London	8	8
University College London	16	15
London School of Economics	25	25
University of Edinburgh	27	27
King’s College London	36	36
University of Manchester	54	55
University of Bristol	76	71
University of Glasgow	80	88
University of Warwick	91	82
Durham University	97	96
University of Sheffield	104	109
Queen Mary University of London	121	113
University of Southampton	126	121
University of Exeter	130	126
University of York	137	129
University of Leeds	139	133
University of Birmingham	141	130
University of St Andrews	143	110
University of Nottingham	147	147
University of Sussex	147	149
Lancaster University	150	137
University of Leicester	159	172
Cardiff University	162	182
Newcastle University	175	190
University of Liverpool	177	158
University of Aberdeen	185	188
University of Dundee	187	180
University of East Anglia	188	165
Royal Holloway, University of London	197	173

Although the UK’s top institutions showed impressive performances, there were signs of a gap between the UK’s most elite establishments and other universities, with the University of Warwick falling nine places to 91st, while the University of St Andrews fell 33 places, to joint 143rd. Just over half of UK institutions represented in the top 200 fell, THE said.
“The UK higher education system is facing intense political pressure, with questions over the value for money provided by £9,250 tuition fees in England, our continued attractiveness to international students, the flow of research funding and academic talent post-Brexit, and even levels of vice-chancellors’ pay,” said Phil Baty, editorial director of global rankings at THE.

But one thing this new data makes absolutely clear is that the UK has many of the very best universities in the world and it has one of the world’s strongest higher education systems

He added: “The data show UK universities are consistently producing ground-breaking new research which is driving innovation, they are attracting international student and academic talent and are providing a world-class teaching environment. They are a huge national asset, and one that the country can ill afford to undermine at a time when its place in the global order is under intense scrutiny.”