Editor of the rankings, Phil Baty, acknowledged how the United Kingdom “has lost ground”, even though the country is still the second most-represented nation in the list of the most reputable universities, behind the U.S. which dominates with 43 out of 100.
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Only the University of Melbourne, which was equal 49th, the Australian National University and the University of Sydney, which were both in the 61 to 70 band, made it into the top 100.
The prestigious Harvard has lead the rankings in 2016 as well making it the sixth year in a row to dominate the World Reputation Rankings, with 43 institutions in the first 100. “We now have a Chinese university in the world top 20 for the first time, and another right behind it in the top 30”.
Hong Kong’s three leading universities have made the top 80 of the annual Times Higher Education World Reputation Rankings for the first time, although the list is still dominated by U.S. and European institutions.
The UK has 10 universities in the top 100, which has seen Asia gain a further 10 from previous year.
Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Stanford University displaced Oxbridge at the top of the league table.
In September 2015, the QS annual World University Rankings named Warwick as one of the world’s top 50 universities, rising 13 places to be ranked 48th overall.
On the whole, Harvard University in the USA has taken the top spot for being the most powerful global university brand for the sixth year in a row.
Highest placed British universities are the University of Cambridge and the University of Oxford, ranked at fourth and fifth respectively. We have been watching China since the 1990s and the investment they have made in higher education and the reforms they have put in place to become more competitive on the world stage.
Joshua Mok Ka-Ho, vice-president and chair professor of comparative policy at Hong Kong’s Lingnan University, commented on the rankings, “That Asia’s performance reflects heavy higher education investments from many governments in the continent and universities concentrating funding on strengthening their research capabilities and publishing in worldwide journals”.
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The reputation rankings are based on the opinions of more than 10,000 academics in 133 countries who are published scholars.
