Britain is sitting at the top of the global university table once again, with the University of Oxford named the world’s number one university for a record-breaking 11th consecutive year.
Oxford retained the top spot in the latest Times Higher Education World University Rankings, which considered a record 2,297 universities across 118 countries.
The university has held the number one position since 2017 - longer than any other institution in the ranking’s history.
Oxford achieved top marks across eight of the measures used to compile the rankings, including research productivity, research excellence and teaching reputation. It also scored particularly strongly for its research environment and international collaboration.
Professor Irene Tracey, Vice-Chancellor of Oxford University, said:
“We are immensely proud that the University of Oxford has been ranked the world’s number one university for a record-breaking eleventh consecutive year by one of the leading and most rigorous ranking systems.”
The rankings assess universities across areas including teaching, research quality, international outlook and links with industry, drawing on almost 20 million research papers and around one million votes in an academic reputation survey.
Professor Tracey added:
“Rankings are, of course, only one measure of what makes a great university, and our focus remains firmly on what matters: pushing the boundaries of knowledge, educating exceptional students and putting our research and teaching to work for the benefit of society and the planet.”
Why it matters for Britain
British universities have a global reputation for education, science and research - and Oxford holding the world number one position for 11 straight years is an extraordinary achievement.
It attracts talent, research and investment to the UK while keeping British higher education firmly on the world stage.
Eleven years at number one. Big Up Oxford!
