Brilliant UCL breaks into top 15 unis in the WORLD

Jubilant celebrations are in order as we storm ahead to become the fourth best uni in the country.

The latest rankings from The Times Higher Education’s World University Rankings place us 14th in the whole world, amid widespread success as 78 UK universities break into the top 800.

The University of Oxford was placed highest in second, with Cambridge following in fourth and Imperial coming in eighth place.

London neighbours LSE and KCL came in at 23rd and 27th respectively, but we were pipped to third place by Imperial.

Hooray

California Institute for Technology won the race to top spot in a rankings dominated by the Ivy League.

But it’s not all good news for the States. Last year, seven of the top 10 unis were in the US and 45 of the top 100, compared to six and 39 this year.

Phil Baty, editor of the Time Higher Education World University Rankings has hailed the UK as a “stand-out performer”, but also claimed the reason the country did so well was because they “benefitted from the fact the research excellence framework assessment took place in the middle of the World University Ranking’s period of assessment”.

Buzzing

The top countries in the research excellence framework – mainly those situated in London, like UCL, Kings and Imperial – are therefore also high in the world rankings list.

History of Art student Caroline Bigley is disappointed UCL has not ranked higher.

She said: “The only research to listen to is QS because there we rank in the top 10.”

London Mayor Boris Johnson said he was “incredibly proud” of London’s achievements and added “the capital continues to be the global leader in education”.