After two years of slipping down the table, this year there is good news in the latest QS world rankings for UK universities. Of the 76 British institutions ranked this year, 41 have improved their position, with less than half as many falling as last year.
But there’s one university in particular which has much to celebrate. The UK has a new leader for the first time since we began compiling standalone rankings in 2010: the University of Oxford has overtaken its perennial rival, the University of Cambridge.
Oxford’s rise is primarily due to improved research performance: the global heavyweight produces more academic papers than Cambridge, and also receives a higher number of citations on those papers. Most importantly, as far as our ranking is concerned, Oxford’s research impact is higher when adjusted for the number of staff members, showing it uses them effectively.
Oxford – renowned for its tutorial system – also has the smallest class sizes in the UK. This is a particular advantage in the current UK context, given the increasing teaching pressures at our institutions: of our 76 ranked universities, 70 have seen their scores for staff-to-student ratio drop. This is worrying for students because it means that an already beleaguered academic workforce is being stretched thinner and thinner, and universities aren’t investing in their staff.
You might wonder whether there’s any Brexit effect to be seen, but the time lag in some of the data means we won’t understand how Brexit has affected the reputational and research performance of UK institutions until the 2024 edition of the rankings. But there’s evidence to suggest that Brexit is negatively impacting international student recruitment. Of the UK’s 76 ranked universities, 53 saw their international student ratio drop – an even bigger fall than last year.
This isn’t just about declining inbound mobility, however. The UK’s proportion of international students has remained essentially stable, with approximately 30% of British university enrolments attributable to foreign students both this year and last. It’s also about more aggressive internationalisation strategies elsewhere.
Other nations have set ambitious export targets, which are beginning to bear fruit. Russia’s ministry of education is aiming to triple international enrolments between now and 2025. The impact is clear: 70% of Russia’s ranked universities are rising in our internationalisation measures. Its flagship university, Lomonosov Moscow, is continuing to make headway within the top 100.
But for the moment, more international students go to the US than anywhere else, and with some good reason. All of the world’s top four institutions – MIT, Stanford, Harvard and Caltech, respectively – are American, and MIT has now stayed at the top for seven years: a record-breaking run.
The overall US system is also looking healthier than last year, too, with two more universities among the world’s top 100 than last year (now 33), and more universities rising than falling.
However, like UK universities, institutions in the US are also seeing a continued erosion of their international student base. This presents a particular problem for private universities reliant on the tuition revenue generated by international students.
Meanwhile, Asia’s top universities have consolidated their status among the world’s best again. China has achieved its first top-20 institution since our inaugural standalone rankings in 2010, with Tsinghua University now 17th, while Japan’s University of Tokyo has made headway towards the top 20 (23rd).
Much of China’s improvement is due to heavy investment in research output: Tsinghua, for example, produced more research papers in the last five years than both Oxford and Cambridge. However, Oxford and Cambridge still receive significantly more citations on fewer papers, as do UCL and Imperial College London (both among the global top 10 overall). Tsinghua ranks 7th globally on raw paper count, but 28th globally when citations – which represent research impact – are examined.
So while Tsinghua and its continent-leading peers are trying their best to catch up, they can’t yet match the capacity for impactful, innovative research present at UK universities.
- Jack Moran is a PR executive at QS Quacquarelli Symonds. He is closely involved in the auditing and analysis of the QS World University Rankings alongside the QS Intelligence Unit
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