Four London universities rank among top 30 in the world for the first time

'Business incubator': Imperial College London
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Rachel Blundy1 October 2015

Four London universities have been ranked among the top 30 institutions in the world for the first time.

Imperial College London, University College London, the London School of Economics and King's College London, scored highly in this year's Times Higher Education rankings.

London mayor Boris Johnson said he was "incredibly proud" to see four of the capital's universities in the top 30, its best performance to date.

Imperial College was ranked eighth in the world, a slight improvement on last year's position of ninth, making it the best university in the capital.

Meanwhile University College London came in 14th place, LSE was 23rd and King's was put in 27th place.

Ranking: King's College London
Wiki Commons

London's Mayor Boris Johnson said: "The capital continues to be the global leader in education, innovating and inspiring top talent from both across the country and overseas."

The California Institute of Technology topped the table for the fifth consecutive year.

The University of Oxford is in second place in the Times' latest global league table, while the University of Cambridge ranked fourth.

University College London: Ahead of Oxbridge for world-class research

The 12th edition of the rankings sees the UK with 78 universities in the top 800, making it second only to the United States.

The UK has seen an improvement on last year's results, but it also came with a warning that its long-term performance could be affected by continued cuts in higher education funding and immigration measures causing difficulties for overseas students.

UK institutions have the second highest proportion of international students among the top 200.

Nick Ansell/PA

The majority of UK universities have moved up the rankings this year, some - such as the University of Warwick, University of St Andrews and the University of Exeter - considerably so.

But five - the University of Manchester, University of York, University of Leeds, University of Sussex and Royal Holloway, University of London - have slipped down.

Times Higher Education world university rankings

1 California Institute of Technology

2    University of Oxford

3    Stanford University

4    University of Cambridge

5    Massachusetts Institute of Technology

6    Harvard University

7    Princeton University

8    Imperial College London

9    ETH Zurich – Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich

10    University of Chicago

11    Johns Hopkins University

12    Yale University

13    University of California, Berkeley

14    University College London

15    Columbia University

16    University of California, Los Angeles

17    University of Pennsylvania

18    Cornell University

19    University of Toronto

20    Duke University

21    University of Michigan

22    Carnegie Mellon University

23    London School of Economics and Political Science

24    University of Edinburgh

25    Northwestern University

26    National University of Singapore

27    King’s College London

28    Karolinska Institute

29    LMU Munich

30    New York University

Phil Baty, editor of the THE World University Rankings, said: "The United Kingdom is a stand-out performer in this year's rankings. It appears the UK's position in the rankings has benefited from the fact that the country's research excellence framework (REF) assessment took place in the middle of the World University Ranking's period of assessment."

"It will be no coincidence that many of the top universities in the REF - University College London, King's College London, Imperial College London and the universities of Oxford and Cambridge - are also star performers in this list.

He continued: "However, despite the UK's success, its continued cuts in higher education funding - the Higher Education Funding Council for England received a £150 million budget slash this year - and series of immigration measures affecting overseas students, will hinder its performance in the long run.

"Many of the country's European rivals, such as Germany, Switzerland and the Netherlands, are also performing well, but are less hindered by funding cuts and more welcoming for international students.

"The UK will have to work hard to ensure its higher education spending and immigration policies do not hinder its place in the World University Rankings."

While the US remains the world leader when it comes to elite universities, its dominance has been eroded this year, with six of the top 10 universities compared to seven last year, and 39 of the top 100 compared to 45 last year.

Universities Minister Jo Johnson said: "These rankings confirm the world-class standing of our higher education sector. Our reforms will ensure our universities continue to compete with the very best internationally and deliver high-quality teaching to students at home."

Additional reporting by the Press Association

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