The University of Cambridge has been named as the UK’s top university in The Times and The Sunday Times Good University Guide for a fourth consecutive year, topping 30 of the 67 subject-specific tables.

The new rankings, which will be published in this weekend's Sunday Times, mean that Cambridge has secured a clean sweep of the three major annual league tables of British universities, having topped the Complete University Guide and Guardian rankings earlier in the year.

Cambridge was trailed by the University of Oxford in second place, with the University of St Andrews and Durham University rounding out the top four, each moving up one place while Imperial College – which placed third last year – fell down the rankings.

Oxbridge must lose its unhealthy fixation on rankings

Of the nine measures used to rank universities, Cambridge placed first in four, achieving the best scores for research quality, entry standards, completion rate, and service and facilities spend.

The Good University Guide rankings come just days after the University of Oxford topped the last of the year’s three major international league tables, the Times Higher Education rankings, leaving Cambridge the runner-up so far as British universities were concerned.