Oxford has overtaken Cambridge as the UK’s top university, according to the latest international league tables.
The Times Higher Education World University Rankings were published on Thursday, placing Oxford as 4th,with Cambridge trailing behind in 6th. For Oxford, this is an improvementon last year’s rankings, where the two universities were joint 6th.
The league tables are put togetherby Times Higher Education in conjunctionwith Thomson Reutersusing five broad categories: teaching,research, citations, industryincome and international outlook.Whilst overall Oxford is high up thetable, in some areas it is behind the competition. Notably it is only 47th in terms of industry income and is 8th for teaching, one place below Cambridge.
Further rankings showing the top universities for Life Sciences, Artsand Humanities, Physical Sciences, Engineering and Technology, Social Sciences and Clinical, Preclinical and Health are due to be published later this month.
First place overall this year went to California Institute of Technology, which has only 2000 undergraduates. Harvard, last year’s top university,came in joint second along with Stanford University.
All the top 10 universities are either British or American. US universities dominate the table, with 74 in the top 200. Inside the top 50 thereare seven UK institutions, including Oxford and Cambridge. Imperial College rates highly at number 8 and Manchester has shot up the rankings from 87 to 45.
The Oxford University Press Office declined to react to Oxford’s performancein the table, telling Cherwell that they do not comment onleague tables and rankings.Some students questioned expressed apathy at the results. Eleanor Hall, a second year at Hertford College, said, “I’m not bothered about these league tables; they don’t mean much to me as an undergraduate. I’m here and just need to carryon with my degree really.”
But Elena Harty of Magdalen College was proud of Oxford’s success,saying, “I couldn’t care less, but as long as we beat Cambridge, I’m happy!”
