Edinburgh falls in top 100 universities list
Edinburgh University fell from 45th to 49th in the Times Higher Education’s 2012 World Reputation Rankings along with other UK institutions.
The top spot was taken by US university Harvard, with Cambridge the highest-placed UK university, in third position.
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Hide AdOverall, the UK has ten universities in the top 100 – second only to the US, which has 44 institutions in the annual list – ranked by reputation based on the world’s largest survey of academic opinion.
But there were two fewer entries this year compared with last year for the UK as a whole, with Imperial College, University College London, Edinburgh and Bristol all falling down the list. The University of Sheffield and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine dropped out of the top 100 altogether.
Compilers of the list said the rankings provided “clear evidence” of an elite group of US and UK global “super-brands”, headed by Harvard University.
However, the compilers warned that the UK’s position at the forefront of higher education was under threat from emerging universities in Asia.
Phil Baty, editor of Times Higher Education Rankings, said: “Make no mistake, this data should be uncomfortable news for the UK. Our global reputation as the home of outstanding universities has been hit.
“Meanwhile, all the leading Asian universities, most notably in China, are on the up.
“The messages we are sending to the world about our commitment to funding our universities, fuelled by the images of students protesting in Westminster, on top of our clampdown on overseas students, are not playing well globally.
“There is a clear risk that our universities, other than the elite ‘super-brands’ of Oxford and Cambridge, will be relegated from the premier league of institutions in the eyes of the world, with tangible and sustained damage. Perception is reality and it seems that we are perceived as a fading power.”
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Hide AdSally Hunt, general secretary of the University and College Union, said: “The UK continues to punch above its weight on the global stage, but while other countries are investing in their universities, our sector is beset by funding uncertainties caused by ill-thought-through government policy.”
A spokeswoman for Edinburgh University declined to comment on the list.
The top 100 Universities
Key: 2012 reputation rank
University
Country
2011 reputation rank
1
Harvard University
United States
1
2
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
United States
2
3
University of Cambridge
United Kingdom
3
4
Stanford University
United States
5
5
University of California, Berkeley
United States
4
6
University of Oxford
United Kingdom
6
7
Princeton University
United States
7
8
University of Tokyo
Japan
8
9
University of California, Los Angeles
United States
12
10
Yale University
United States
9
11
California Institute of Technology
United States
10
12
University of Michigan
United States
13
13
Imperial College London
United Kingdom
11
14
University of Chicago
United States
15
15
Columbia University
United States
23
16
Cornell University
United States
16
16
University of Toronto
Canada
17
18
Johns Hopkins University
United States
14
19
University of Pennsylvania
United States
22
20
Kyoto University
Japan
18
21
University College London
United Kingdom
19
22
Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zürich
Switzerland
24
23
University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign
United States
21
23
National University of Singapore
Singapore
27
25
University of British Columbia
Canada
31
25
McGill University
Canada
29
27
University of Wisconsin-Madison
United States
25
28
University of Washington
United States
26
29
London School of Economics and Political Science
United Kingdom
37
30
Tsinghua University
China
35
31
University of California, San Francisco
United States
34
32
University of Texas at Austin
United States
31
33
Duke University
United States
36
34
New York University
United States
51-60
35
Northwestern University
United States
40
36
University of California, San Diego
United States
30
37
Carnegie Mellon University
United States
28
38
Peking University
China
43
39
The University of Hong Kong
Hong Kong
42
39
University of Massachusetts
United States
19
41
Georgia Institute of Technology
United States
39
42
Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München
Germany
48
43
University of Melbourne
Australia
45
44
Australian National University
Australia
51-60
44
University of California, Davis
United States
38
46
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
United States
41
47
University of Minnesota
United States
43
47
Purdue University
United States
47
49
University of Edinburgh
United Kingdom
45
50
The University of Sydney
Australia
51-60
51-60
Delft University of Technology
Netherlands
49
51-60
Karolinska Institute
Sweden
51-60
51-60
University of Manchester
United Kingdom
61-70
51-60
The Ohio State University
United States
51-60
51-60
Osaka University
Japan
50
51-60
Pennsylvania State University
United States
61-70
51-60
University of California, Santa Barbara
United States
51-60
51-60
Seoul National University
Korea, Republic of
51-60
51-60
Tohoku University
Japan
51-60
51-60
Tokyo Institute of Technology
Japan
51-60
61-70
École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne
Switzerland
71-80
61-70
Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Israel
#N/A
61-70
The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology
Hong Kong
91-100
61-70
Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin
Germany
71-80
61-70
King’s College London
United Kingdom
61-70
61-70
Technische Universität München
Germany
61-70
61-70
University of Pittsburgh
United States
51-60
61-70
University of São Paulo
Brazil
#N/A
61-70
University of Southern California
United States
71-80
61-70
National Taiwan University
Taiwan
81-90
71-80
University of Amsterdam
Netherlands
81-90
71-80
Universität Heidelberg
Germany
81-90
71-80
Michigan State University
United States
71-80
71-80
Université Paris-Sorbonne
France
#N/A
71-80
The University of Queensland Australia
Australia
81-90
71-80
Texas A&M University
United States
81-90
71-80
Uppsala University
Sweden
61-70
71-80
Utrecht University
Netherlands
71-80
71-80
Washington University in St Louis
United States
71-80
71-80
University of Zürich
Switzerland
61-70
81-90
Brown University
United States
#N/A
81-90
The Chinese University of Hong Kong
Hong Kong
#N/A
81-90
University of Florida
United States
61-70
81-90
Katholieke Universiteit Leuven
Belgium
81-90
81-90
Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology
Korea, Republic of
91-100
81-90
University of Leeds
United Kingdom
81-90
81-90
Leiden University
Netherlands
81-90
81-90
Lund University
Sweden
71-80
81-90
Nanyang Technological University
Singapore
91-100
81-90
Tel Aviv University
Israel
#N/A
91-100
University of Arizona
United States
71-80
91-100
Boston University
United States
61-70
91-100
University of Bristol
United Kingdom
81-90
91-100
École Polytechnique
France
61-70
91-100
Indiana University
United States
81-90
91-100
Middle East Technical University
Turkey
#N/A
91-100
Université Paris-Sud
France
#N/A
91-100
Université Pierre et Marie Curie
France
#N/A
91-100
Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey
United States
71-80
91-100
Wageningen University and Research Center
Netherlands
#N/