CAMBRIDGE UP TO JOINT THIRD BUT OXFORD RETAINS TOP SPOT

THREE UK universities have been named in the top 10 in prestigious world rankings.

- By JASMINE NORDEN, PA

The University of Oxford, University of Cambridge and Imperial College London have grabbed some of the top spots in the Times Higher Education (THE) World University Rankings 2026, with Oxford coming first for the 10th year in a row.

Cambridge rose to joint third from fifth place in 2025, and Imperial climbed one place from ninth to eighth.

The global university rankings have been produced annually since 2004, and are built on analysis of almost 19 million research papers, 1.5 millions votes in a survey and data on more than 30,000 universities, THE said.

THE ranked 109 UK institutions out of the 2,191 total.

Of these, 13 improved their positions, 64 retained their positions from 2025, and 28 dropped down the table.

This is the first year since 2016 that the UK has had fewer than 50 universities that made the top 500, though it is only slightly under this with 49.