Lancaster University

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Lancaster University Ranked Among World’s Best

10/09/2008 16:11:06

Lancaster University is ranked among the world’s best universities according to the Times Higher Education.

Lancaster is one of only 29 UK universities ranked in the top 200 universities worldwide, coming in at number 170.

The annual THE-QS World University Rankings are based on surveys of academics and graduate employers about which they consider the best universities in their fields, the ratio of students to academics, the proportion of overseas students and staff at each university, and the number of times that research is quoted in other journals.

Harvard tops the rankings for the fifth consecutive year. Its endowment fund is greater than the total annual public funding for all universities in England. Yale is ranked second with Cambridge and Oxford in third and fourth place respectively. Last year all three universities were ranked joint second.

Overall, British universities have slipped down the world rankings, losing ground to American universities which receive huge endowments. More than a third of the top 100 are based in the US.

The Times Higher Education-QS World University Rankings had 29 British universities in the top 200, one fewer than last year. Of these, 22 have gone down the rankings including Lancaster University which was ranked at 147 last year.

The rise of Asian institutions is reflected in the inclusion of nine of them within the top 50, including three based in Hong Kong.

The rankings also rated the success of the university system in 40 different countries in delivering higher education to people across the world. Overall, the US came top followed by the UK in second place, then Australia and Germany. China was ranked 15th.

The Editor of the THE Ann Mroz said UK universities are very clearly among the world’s best and have maintained good positions in the rankings this year.