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Oxford University top of world rankings for sixth year running

Edward Vowell reports.

The 2022 Times Higher Education World University Rankings sees the University retain pole position on the global stage.

The University of Oxford has topped the Times Higher Education (THE) World University Rankings for the sixth successive year after its release on Thursday.

The result of the annual publication placed Oxford above the California Institute of Technology and Harvard University, both sharing second place. The following places are similarly dominated by American institutions, entirely comprising the top ten except for the University of Cambridge in sixth.

Times Higher Education magazine uses thirteen different performance indicators as criteria for the rankings, centred around three main areas: research, impact and teaching. As a reflection of a year dominated by the Covid-19 pandemic, many institutions saw a rise in citation scores, a calculation of global research influence.

Oxford finished first in the Research category, with Cambridge in second place, while Harvard received the highest score for Teaching. Macau University of Science and Technology topped the International Outlook bracket. For the first time, two Chinese institutions have broken into the top twenty, and its share of institutions in the top 200 is increasing, as American representation is falling.

In response to the release of this year’s rankings, the University’s Vice-Chancellor, Professor Louise Richardson, said: “This past year has demonstrated to our publics, our governments, and even to ourselves just how much universities can contribute to society…Together our universities have made the strongest possible case for renewed public investment in research universities.”

Overall, the magazine ranked 1,662 universities, having analysed more than 108 million citations. The rigorous methodology of the research means that it has built up the trust of students, universities, governments and experts.

Image: ChungkwanShin via Pixabay.com


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