Twelve UK universities featured in the top 100Flickr:Mihnea Maftei

The University of Cambridge has been ranked as the second best university globally in this year’s Times Higher Education (THE) World Reputation Rankings, climbing two places. Harvard has retained the top spot from last year.

The rankings, which list the world’s top 100 most prestigious universities, included twelve British institutions, up from ten in 2014.

The ‘golden triangle’ of Oxford, Cambridge and London consolidated its grip on UK higher education. Oxford was in third place, up from fifth, the London School of Economics (LSE) in 22nd place, and University College London (UCL) in 17th place. 

Other UK universities in the list included King’s College London, Imperial College London and Edinburgh, while Warwick and Durham were new entrants in the 81– 90 category.

The list was dominated by American universities, headed by Harvard in the top spot, with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in fourth, Stanford in fifth, and the University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley) in sixth place.

Those making up the rest of the top ten were all US institutions: Princeton, Yale, the California Institute of Technology (CalTech) and Columbia. US universities made up 26 of the top 50 places, and a total of 43 of the top 100.

Based on a survey of 10,507 senior academics who have an average of 15 years working in higher education, the THE rankings have become a global index of university prestige that is widely-referenced. Cambridge was one of an elite group of six US and UK ‘super-brands’ which stand above the rest.

The University of Cambridge’s rank confirms its excellence in research and teaching, in addition to the strength of the Cambridge brand. Research by the World 100 Reputation Network has found that institutional reputation is the number one factor for international academics changing jobs.

Commenting on the rankings, Business Secretary Vince Cable said: “These findings illustrate government efforts to support a world-class higher education system that we can be proud of. Our reforms have helped to ensure British universities are some of the best funded in the world and even more competitive for excellence – second only to the United States”.

Universities, Science and Cities Minister Greg Clark added: “It’s no coincidence that British universities continue to come out on top of international league tables like this. UK higher education has a long-standing reputation for excellence and more UK and international students than ever before are signing up to benefit from their teachings and world-leading facilities”.