UK universities climb in world rankings

The British Council welcomed the news this week that four of the top six places in the world university rankings went to British universities as a clear signal that the UK continues to go from strength to strength as a world class provider of higher education. The UK increased its representation among the global top 100 from 17 in 2008 to 18 today, and is second only to the US in overall numbers, in a study published by the Times Higher Education magazine.

The US's Harvard University remains top, followed by the UK’s University of Cambridge in second place and the US’s Yale University in third place. UK institutions take the rest of the top six, with University College London in fourth place and fifth place shared by Imperial College London and the University of Oxford.

The British Council’s Director of Higher Education, Pat Killingley, said: ‘Academics and students around the world place a great deal of importance on the rankings, and this news will help us to continue to attract fresh talent to UK education.’

Every year more than half a million international students choose to study in the UK. The British Council, through Education UK, works with universities and colleges to promote the many opportunities and benefits of studying in the UK and works to forge research links and educational partnerships between universities here and abroad.

The survey also revealed that Asian universities are advancing, with improved rankings for universities in Japan, Hong Kong, South Korea and Malaysia.

‘The emergence of top performing universities in Asia shows that we cannot afford to be complacent and underlines the importance of continuing to promote our competitive advantages,’ said Pat Killingley. ‘At the same time, the growing importance of collaboration between institutions and academics in different countries means we should be viewing these rising Asian stars more as potential partners than as rivals,’ she added.

Over the past two years the British Council has already helped to establish nearly 300 educational partnerships between universities in the UK and abroad. Among these, the University of Central Lancashire received funding for a partnership with the Shanghai Institute of Foreign Trade in China.

David Bagley from the University of Central Lancashire said: ‘This will bring together leading universities in China and UK, helping us to understand more about the Chinese labour market and trends in the global enterprise economy. The result will be Chinese and UK graduates who are able to compete much more effectively in the global labour market.’

The university rankings are based on several factors including an international survey of 9,000 academics, how influential the institution's research is and measures of teaching quality and ability to recruit staff and students abroad.

For more on Education UK visit www.educationuk.org/pls/hot_bc/page_pls_all_homepage

For the Times Higher Education-QS University Rankings 2009 visit www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/Rankings2009-Top200.html