Oxford University Ranks First in World University Rankings, for Fifth Time in a Row

UK’s Oxford University continues to hold the position of the best university globally, as it has been ranked the first in the list of the Times Higher Education (THE) world rankings for the fifth successive year.

According to experts, the COVID-19 pandemic could lead to loss of the international student fee income, but not only, the lack of world’s academic talents to UK’s education institutions could also harm the country in the academic sphere, Erudera reports.

Experts, among others, added that the status of the UK as “higher education superpower” could also be affected due to challenges triggered by Brexit and COVID-19 pandemic.

29 UK universities have been listed in the top 200 this year, from which 15 have fallen for at least one spot in the list during the last 12 months. Differently, France also has 5 universities ranked in the top 200, and 40 others in the list of the top 1000.

Universities ranked in the top 4 are:

1. California Institute of Technology in the United States
2. The University of Cambridge in the United Kingdom
3. Stanford University in the United States
4. Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the United States

The Chief Knowledge Officer of THE, Phill Batty, stated that universities were already on tension regarding their work on delivering success to their students but the COVID-19 pandemic has added even more pressure, as it has already affected the entire higher education sector.

“Over the past five years we’ve seen a steady decline in performance of UK universities at large. Before we even see the impact of Covid-19 and Brexit trickle down to our data the UK stands at an all-time low of just two universities in the global top 10Coronavirus delivers the joint challenges of attracting international students, whose fees many universities are reliant on, and global academic talent, vital to having world-leading teaching and research.”

Whereas, the vice-chancellor of the Oxford University, Professor Louise Richardson, expressed her delight over the UK’s Oxford University ranking at the top of world university rankings.

“The international standing of British higher education is a testament to generations of investment in education as well as to our extraordinarily talented staff and students. The Covid-19 pandemic, which has posed such a threat to higher education around the world, has also demonstrated the critical role universities play in addressing global challenges.”

The Times Higher Education World University Rankings rank world universities by relying on some main indicators such as research, teaching, citations, international outlook and industry income. The annual table of THE world rankings includes more than 1,500 universities from 93 countries and regions.

THE World University Rankings 2021 showed that Chinese universities have made progress in the list of best universities globally, ranking in the top 20.