Oxford extends world-topping streak for 11th year

The University of Oxford has been named the top university in the world for an 11th straight year.

It continues its record-breaking streak at the top of the Times Higher Education's (THE) World University Rankings 2027, which considered 2,297 universities from 118 countries.

The University of Cambridge and Imperial College London also claim spots in the top 10 positions.

Oxford's vice-chancellor Prof Irene Tracey said they were "immensely proud" and that their focus remained on "pushing the boundaries of knowledge, educating exceptional students and putting our research and teaching to work for the benefit of society and the planet".

THE describes its rankings as "the only global performance tables that judge research-intensive universities across all their core missions: teaching, research, knowledge transfer and international outlook".

Its evaluation considers criteria such as learning environment, income and research influence.

It says that about 20 million research papers, one million votes in an Academic Reputation Survey and detailed institutional data on more than 3,000 universities worldwide are built into its analysis.

The University of Oxford said its strength in this year's table had come from "its high standard across all metrics".

"In eight of the metrics the university scores the maximum 100 – including research productivity, research excellence and teaching reputation – and in six metrics, it scores above 95," it said.

It is the longest time any university has held the position in the 22nd annual editions of the rankings.

In comparison, the university comes fifth in the UK's longest-running university league table, The Times and Sunday Times Good University Guide 2027, which uses data on five indicators, including teaching quality and student satisfaction.

Phil Baty, THE's chief global affairs officer, said Oxford's record-breaking period was "an ever more remarkable achievement given the intensifying competition".

"...not least the dramatic continued rise of powerhouse universities in East Asia, and serious financial and geopolitical pressures on the UK and wider Western higher education system," he said.

The ranking shows three Asian universities in top 15 for the first time.

"Oxford excels, of course, across all the key metrics, but has the highest possible score for its research environment, which includes its academic standing among peers worldwide," Baty said.