Auckland University ranked best in country

Education secretary Angela Constance said: “I am very pleased to see Scottish universities again performing so well in the annual QS rankings”.

University College Cork is down three places to 233rd, but there were small gains for other universities.

The QS World University Rankings for 2015-16 have rated ANU as equal 19th globally – alongside the King’s College, London.

The survey also ranks universities by department with the University of Auckland topping local institutions in arts and humanities at 28th place, and in social sciences at 36th place. However, it now dropped to the 401 to 410 mark from 367th place previous year.

Massachusetts Institute of Technology keeps its number one slot, pipping neighbours Harvard University, University of Cambridge in the United Kingdom, and two more USA institutions, Stanford University and California Institute of Technology. Some of the most notable United Kingdom climbers among the top 100 include The University of Warwick (48th), which is now among the world’s top 50, Durham University (61st), University of St Andrews (68th) and the University of Southampton (81st).

It ranks in the top 100 across four of the five faculty areas.

The National University of Singapore (12th) is confirmed as the leading Asian institution while Nanyang Technological University (13th) enjoyed a quantum leap of twenty-six places, almost closing the gap.

This has helped London School of Economics improve its position and “to be counted, rightfully, amongst the world’s top 40”, according to QS head of research Ben Sowter.

“The QS methodology now evens the playing field and LSE climbs 36 places to be counted, rightfully, amongst the world’s top 40”.

John O’Leary, a member of the QS global advisory board, said: “The United Kingdom remains second only to the U.S. as a higher education destination”.

The leading universities may have lost ground, but they still make up four of the top 10 in the world.

But Simona Bizzozero, a spokeswoman for QS – whose annual rankings are considered among the three most influential in the world – said only about 30 per cent of the University of Ottawa’s decline was attributable to the new approach while the rest “reflects a genuine deterioration in some indicators”. Commenting on Britain’s performance, mayor of London Boris Johnson said “London is unequivocally the education capital of the world”. The University of Canberra did not make the top 400.

“Following eight years of budget cuts, UCC is not only holding its own in trying economic times, it continues to do more with less to exemplary standards”.

“We’ve made a lot of changes recently, building on what is great about Lincoln’s past to ensure we meet the needs of the future – so it is good to see these changes paying off in increased recognition and standing worldwide”, says Lincoln University Acting Vice-Chancellor Jeremy Baker.