Harvard today forfeits first place to the University of Cambridge in a league table of the world's top institutions, the first time in the list's seven year history that the Ivy League university has been knocked off the number one spot.
The QS table is based on measures of research quality, graduate employability, teaching and how international the faculties and student bodies are.
Harvard was still most popular among the 5,000 employers polled worldwide, but Cambridge was voted best for research quality in a survey of 15,000 academics and took overall first place. The rankings also use citation counts from a database of academic publishing.
The Times Higher Education magazine, which is publishing its own global university rankings next week, is no longer collaborating with QS. The magazine is concerned that these rankings rely too heavily on subjective surveys of scholars and employers and not enough on hard indicators of excellence. The THE's new rankings are expected to contain disappointing news for some prestigious British institutions.
Some of the key UK losers this year are:
• University of Oxford down to 6 from 5 last year
• University of Edinburgh, down two places to 22
• University of Lancaster, down from 161 to 182
However, some are doing better, notably University of Durham, up to 92 from 103 last year.
The QS table is based on measures of research quality, graduate employability, teaching and how international the faculties and student bodies are.
Harvard was still most popular among the 5,000 employers polled worldwide, but Cambridge was voted best for research quality in a survey of 15,000 academics and took overall first place. The rankings also use citation counts from a database of academic publishing.
The Times Higher Education magazine, which is publishing its own global university rankings next week, is no longer collaborating with QS. The magazine is concerned that these rankings rely too heavily on subjective surveys of scholars and employers and not enough on hard indicators of excellence. The THE's new rankings are expected to contain disappointing news for some prestigious British institutions.
Some of the key UK losers this year are:
• University of Oxford down to 6 from 5 last year
• University of Edinburgh, down two places to 22
• University of Lancaster, down from 161 to 182
However, some are doing better, notably University of Durham, up to 92 from 103 last year.
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