World University Rankings: Harvard Tops List, British Universities Slip

Harvard University has the best reputation out of all the universities in the world according to Times Higher Education (THE) World University Rankings. There are eight American universities out of the Top 10, with two British universities slipping, namely Cambridge and Oxford. At fourth and fifth, both have slipped two places from last year's rankings.

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Stanford University placed second and third, respectively. The University of California, Berkeley, Princeton University, Yale University, Columbia University and the California Institute of Technology rounded up the Top 10.

British Universities Slipping In Word University Rankings

The BBC reported that there are 10 British universities that made it to the Top 100 this year. In 2015, the total was 12.

"The UK's diminishing performance occurs as institutions in Asia rapidly rise up the table - the continent has 17 representatives, up from 10 last year," said THE rankings editor Phil Baty via BBC. Baty said the United Kingdom's global reputation was being dampened by budget cuts to higher education and immigration measures affecting overseas students.

According to The Telegraph, experts have pointed to focus on diversity and recruitment of students from underprivileged backgrounds as the reasons for the slip in the world university rankings of British universities. British Prime Minister David Cameron had earlier promoted more transparency in the proportion of ethnic minorities that get accepted in British universities.

In Contrast With British Universities, Asian Universities On The Rise

Japan led Asia as the University of Tokyo was the top university outside of the United States and United Kingdom at 12^th place. Meanwhile, China became part of the Top 20 for the first time as its Tsinghua University placed 18^th. Peking University was in the 21^st place.

Baty called the rise of Asia as "something of a cliché in recent time." However, he said via The Independent that evidence from global surveys and views of experts "proves the balance of power in higher education and research is slowly shifting from the West to the East."

Hong Kong's Lingnan University vice-president and chair professor of comparative policy Joshua Mok Ka-Ho said that Asian rankings showed much investment in higher education from many Asian governments. Ka-Ho said via CNBC that many Asian governments have agreed on "the importance of research, knowledge transfer, innovation and technology in transforming the economy and society."

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