A recent ranking of global universities has seen a seventeen place rise for the University of Edinburgh, the highest ranking amongst Scottish universities.
The prestigious Times Higher Education (THE) World Reputation Rankings 2015 have improved Edinburgh’s global ranking to 29th, placing it alongside other UK universities making the list such as Imperial College London and the London School of Economics.
This is the first time that Edinburgh has reached the world’s top third in THE’s ranking and the 2015 ranking is an improvement from last year’s result, which saw Edinburgh ranked 46th.
Overall, Harvard University in the US maintained its position at the head of the rankings, followed by Oxford and Cambridge universities respectively.
The THE ranking provides a ranking based on the reputation of the universities from the judgment of senior, published academics in order to find the most powerful brands in global education.
The Rankings represent the largest invitation-only survey of its kind, judged by over 10,000 academics from 142 countries all over the world. This was the fifth year that THE has released its reputation rankings.
Phil Baty, from the organisers of the Rankings, said: “The rankings are both an indicator of global prestige and a predictor of future global prestige – because a top global reputation has real-world effects, helping institutions to attract the best global talent, to forge strong international partnerships and to attract investment.”
The results follow in the wake of the publication of the Research Excellence Framework (REF) 2014, where the University’s quality of research was ranked fourth in the UK and first in Scotland.
Despite this, the University has suffered an £8 million cut in its funding levels in revised figures posted by the Scottish Government announced earlier in the month.
Responding to the THE rankings, principal of the University of Edinburgh, Sir Timothy O’Shea, said: “Our rise in these rankings is not only great news for the University but also for Scotland.
It is a tribute to the quality of our staff and students and confirms the University of Edinburgh as one of the world’s leading research and teaching establishments whose activity is having an impact on a truly global scale.”
Nicola Dandridge, chief executive of Universities UK, said: “While rankings cannot provide a complete picture of the whole university sector, and there is an obvious element of subjectivity when it comes to reputation, it is clear that the UK continues to excel in this area. By any international measure, we perform well.
“We have the second-strongest university system in the world after the US. This is something of which we should be rightly proud. We excel at a global level in the quality of our research, in the attractiveness of our courses, and in the quality of our graduates.”