The results of the Times Higher Education World Reputation Rankings 2015 released in March show that the UK boasts 12 of the 100 most renowned higher education institutions in the world (up from ten last year), while its two strongest performers, the universities of Oxford and Cambridge have improved their positions. The US remains dominant in the annual rankings, claiming 43 of the top 100 universities and eight of the top 10, although the total number of American institutions is down from 46 last year.
For the fifth consecutive year, the rankings highlight an elite group of six US and UK ‘super-brands’ which hold a significant lead over the rest. Although the order has changed over the years, the institutions in the top six have remained constant: Harvard University, Cambridge, Oxford, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Stanford University and the University of California, Berkeley.
“What we are finding year on year is that universities in this group of six tend to stand out well above the seventh and eighth-placed institutions,” says THE rankings editor Phil Baty. “They seem to be in a super-league all of their own.”
Germany remains the best-represented nation after the US and the UK, with six Top 100 universities (the same as last year). Its neighbour France now boasts five institutions in the table (all of them based in Paris), up from two last year.
Asia’s best performer, the University of Tokyo, slipped one place to 12th position. Meanwhile, China’s top institution, Tsinghua University, climbed 10 places to 26th, and Peking University leaped from 41st to 32nd place.
(Excerpted and adapted from )