The Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU) 2015 has once more classed Harvard University in the US as the top university in the world, with Cambridge and Oxford the UK’s sole representatives in the top ten.
This is the 13th year in a row that Harvard has topped the ARWU, which began in 2003, and the results are created by researchers at the Center for World-Class Universities of Shanghai Jiao Tong University (CWCU).
Fellow American universities follow behind Harvard: Stanford University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and the University of California, with Cambridge completing the top five, the UK’s highest scorer.
The University of Oxford dropped one place from last year’s ranking of joint-ninth, completing the top ten. The UK has 9 universities in the top 100, the second highest number after America, with 51.
16 of the top 20 universities are in America, with the UK and Switzerland the only other countries to feature this highly.
Originally the rankings, when launched in 2003, were solely for Chinese universities, but were expanded worldwide. The data used by researchers to determine the rankings is based on third-party data and a set of objective indicators, and the ARWU has been recognised as a trustworthy university league table.