The University of Cambridge has dropped one place in the Times Higher Education reputation rankings to fourth, having been overtaken by Stanford University. However, the rankings, which measure a university’s ability to “attract staff, students, business investment, research partners and benefactions in a highly competitive world market” according to their international reputations, show that Cambridge remains the UK’s highest-ranking university – although the University of Oxford is close behind in fifth position.

Analysis of the rankings for this year has revealed a group of six US and UK “super-brand” universities – Harvard, MIT, Stanford, Cambridge, Oxford and the University of California, Berkeley. The UK now has 10 universities in the global top 100, six of which are in London – making the UK the second best-represented nation after the USA, and meaning that London has more highly-ranking universities than any other city worldwide. However, it is thought that the Oxbridge domination of the UK’s higher education marketplace may be reinforcing the “golden triangle” of Cambridge, Oxford and London; thereby creating a disparity with the rest of the UK.

Reacting to the news, a spokesperson for the University said that “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.” A study carried out into the factors which influence the movement of academics between universities discovered that reputation is just as important for them in their selection of jobs as it is for students.

Bahram Bekhradnia, president of the UK’s Higher Education Policy Institute, has also highlighted how the success seen for Oxbridge is a positive sign for the UK: “Given the UK’s size, this survey suggests we are still punching above our weight as far as research performance is concerned: at more than four times our size, the US has only around four times the number of universities in the top 100.”

However, with the University of Bristol dropping out of the top 100, and the University of Manchester dropping below 50th position, there is concern that not enough is being done to enhance the international reputations of UK universities. Phil Baty, editor of the Times Higher Education’s rankings, has stressed that “The UK has some of the world’s biggest university brands: we must protect them.”