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Oxford slips down yet again

Oxford and Cambridge were ranked joint sixth in the World University Rankings, recently published by the Times Higher Education magazine.

Last year Oxford fell from fourth to joint fifth place with Imperial College London. This year Oxford has fallen yet another place down in the ranking.

A spokesperson from Oxford University urged readers to treat such league tables with caution. “The difference between the actual point scores in the top ten were tiny, so we don’t read too much into the exact placing. Small differences in methodology can easily change the order in the top ten.

“Oxford is one of the world’s greatest universities by any measure. The challenge is to maintain that position long into the future.”

Only five British universities are ranked in the world’s top 50, and just fourteen in the top 100. This is less than last year, when there were eight in the top 50 and 18 in the top 100. Other British universities in the top 100 of this year’s league table include Imperial College London, ranked ninth, University College London, ranked 22nd and Edinburgh, ranked 40th.

American universities dominate the table, with 72 institutions in the top 200. All five top places are US based universities, with Harvard as number one, California Institute of Technology in second place, and Massachusetts Institute of Technology in third.

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