New rankings released by the Centre for World University Rankings (CWUR) place Cambridge as the fourth best university in the world for the second year running.

Retaining the top spot was Harvard, while Oxford took fifth place.

Outside Oxbridge, the highest ranking UK universities were University College London, which took twenty-seventh place, and Imperial College London, which came in at thirty-fifth.

The CWUR claims that it publishes the only worldwide university rankings that measure both quality of education and student training, as well as the prestige of faculty members and the quality of research. The league table does not consider surveys or university data submissions.

The organisation analyses eight weighted factors when collating its rankings. These are: 1) Quality of Education (25 per cent); 2) Alumni Employment (25 per cent); 3) Quality of Faculty (25 per cent); 4) Publications (5 per cent); 5) Influence (5 per cent); 6) Citations (5 per cent); 7) Broad Impact (5 per cent); 8) Patents (5 per cent). Full details of the methodology used are available here.

Speaking to The Independent, a university spokesman expressed satisfaction at the result.

“This ranking, like all the others, reflects the fact that the University of Cambridge is among a small group of the most respected and influential higher education institutions in the world,” he said.

Unlike some league tables, the CWUR does not consider student satisfaction. In the UK, the Guardian's national league table relies heavily on student satisfaction scores, although Oxford and Cambridge still dominate.

The CWUR scores will come as little to surprise to Cantabs. Other international rankings tell a similar story. The Times Higher Education World University Rankings place Cambridge fifth (Caltech tops the list), while Cambridge comes in second only to MIT in the QS World University Rankings.