Cambridge is the best university in the world, according to a new league table.
The elite institution topped the eighth annual QS World University Rankings, seeing off competition from leading US institutions including Harvard, which took second place.
It is the second year running that Cambridge University has taken the top spot.
It wrestled first place from Harvard last year, pushing the American university into second for the first time since the tables began.
The QS World University Rankings questions academics and employers and rates universities worldwide on areas including research, teaching standards, graduate employability and international work.
Oxford University came fifth in the tables, up one place from last year, while Imperial College London came sixth this year, and University College London took seventh place.
The rest of the top 10 was made up of US institutions with Harvard in second place, Massachusetts Institute of Technology third, Yale University fourth, University of Chicago eighth, University of Pennsylvania ninth and Columbia University in 10th place.
In total, nine UK universities were in the top 50, and 17 overall in the top 100.
Besides those in the top 10, there were Edinburgh University (20th place), King’s College London (27), Manchester University (29), Bristol University (30), Warwick University (50), Glasgow University (59), London School of Economics (64), Birmingham University (67), Sheffield University (72), Nottingham University (74), Southampton University (75), Leeds University (93) and Durham University (95).
Ben Sowter, head of research at QS, said: “This year’s QS rankings show that the worst effects of the funding cuts have yet to be felt by UK universities. “However, pre-emptive redundancies and increased student intake have led to worse student to faculty ratios relative to their international peers.
“Of the 37 UK universities in the top 300, 34 fared worse in this measure than in 2010.”
Universities in The Netherlands, including Amsterdam University (63rd place) Utrecht (80) and Leiden (88), are all in the top 100 and offer English-language courses for less than £2,000 per year, QS said.
The University of Glasgow, one of three to feature from Scotland, moved 18 places to its position at 59 in the table. Anton Muscatelli, professor and principal and vice chancellor, said: “This is our best-ever performance in the QS World University rankings, a remarkable achievement and one that confirms Glasgow’s position as one of the world’s leading universities.
“At Glasgow we are justifiably proud of the quality of our teaching and research, and we know from the national student survey that we provide one of the very best student experiences in the UK.
“We are also proud to be contributing to Scotland’s continuing success on the world stage in Higher Education.”
“Being in the top one per cent of world universities is fantastic, and is a tribute to our tremendously hard working staff, researchers and students.”