A record six UK universities are ranked in the top 20 throughout the world, according to research published today.
However, the widely respected QS World University Rankings show there is no cause for complacency ? as more UK universities are slipping down the world university league table than improving their position.
The top 20 universities
1. Massachusetts Institute of Technology?Private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, with a strong emphasis on science, engineering and technological education and research.? Founded 1861.
2. Harvard University?Oldest established university in the United States, dating back to 1636. Eight US presidents have been graduates and it is the alma mater for 62 living billionaires.
3. Cambridge University?The UK?s highest ranking university. It grew out of an association of scholars ? who were refugees from Oxford after falling out with local townsfolk ? in 1209.
4. University College London?UCL is the oldest constituent college of the University of London. It was the first in England to be established on an entirely secular basis to admit students regardless of their religion ? and their sex.
5. Imperial College London?Founded in 1907, it specialises in science, engineering, medicine and business.
6. Oxford University?There is evidence of teaching here way back in 1096 ? making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world.
7. Stanford University?Located in California, it was founded in 1891 and named after the son of railroad magnate Leland Stanford who declared ?the children of California shall be our children?
8.Yale University?Founded in 1701 in New Haven, Connecticut, it has around 5,300 undergraduates and 6,100 graduates and professional students. It has educated five US presidents.
9. Chicago University?The university, with about 15,000 students, is consistently rated as one of the world?s top 10 universities. It is home to the University of Chicago Press, the largest university press in the US.
10=. California Institute of Technology?Sited in Pasadena, it places strong emphasis on science and engineering and was established in 1891.
10=. Princeton University?Founded as the College of New Jersey in 1746, it adopted its present name in 1896. It specialises in the humanities, social sciences, natural sciences and engineering ? but does not have schools of medicine, law or business.
12. ETH Zurich (Swiss Federal Institute of Technology)?The highest ranking university outside the US and UK, it specialises in engineering, science, technology, mathematics and management and is sited in Zurich.
13. University of Pennsylvania?Founded by Benjamin Franklin, who advocated focussing on a practical education for commerce and public service just as highly as the classics and theology, it now offers a broad range of courses.
14. Columbia University?Founded in 1754 as King?s College by royal charter, it is the oldest institution of higher education in the state of New York. It is famous for annually administering the Pulitzer Prize, journalism?s most prestigious award.
15. Cornell University?Located in Ithaca, New York, it was founded in 1865 with the intention of teaching all fields of knowledge ? a pledge contained in the motto of its founder Ezra Cornell who said: ?I would fund an institution where any person can find instruction in any body.?
16. John Hopkins University?It is a not-for-profit private research university based in Baltimore and founded in 1876 by the philanthropist of the same name. It has campuses in Italy, China and Singapore as well as the States.
17=. Edinburgh University?The first UK newcomer into the top 20 and also the highest ranking Scottish university. It receives around 47,000 applications a year ? making it the third most popular university in the UK by volume of applicants.
17=. Toronto University?Founded by royal charter in 1827, it assumed its present name in 1850 after becoming a secular institution (it had previously been controlled by the Church of England). It is noted for its influence on the world of literary criticism and communications theory. It also first pioneered the use of insulin and stem-cell research.
19=. Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne (EPFL)?one of two Swiss Federal Institutes of Technology (the other being ETH Zurich), it opened with a mission to educate engineers and scientists, be a national centre of excellence in science and technology and provide a hub for interaction between the scientific community and commerce.
19=. Kings College London? The second newcomer from the UK to the top 20, it can lay claim to being the third oldest university in England, having been founded by King George IV and the Duke of Wellington in 1829.
