These are the British universities with the best reputation in the world

10 made the global top 100

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Cambridge and Oxford have been rated by the Times Higher Education supplement as the UK’s most reputable universities.

Unsurprisingly, they have outperformed other British universities in terms of reputation. New rankings place them as the joint fourth most reputable universities in the world.

This is the first time that Oxford’s reputation has matched that of Cambridge in university rankings, thought to be at least partly down to the “positive image” created by Oxford appointing its first ever female Vice Chancellor. Oxford has also won a series of prestigious research grants in the last year, and in 2016 topped the THE world university rankings for the first time.

The Oxbridge unis are now level in their reputations

The rankings, which are topped by Harvard and particularly show the increasing reputability of universities in Asia, feature ten different British universities believed to be the best for research and teaching. Overall, universities from nineteen different countries are featured.

The rankings are particularly good news for London universities, with University College London (UCL), Imperial and LSE (the London School of Economics) all making it into the top 20 of the rankings, at 16th, 18th and 20th places respectively.

Edinburgh University is ranked at 34th in the list, with Kings College at number 41 and Manchester at 56. Warwick and Durham have also made it into the top 100 most powerful university brands.

The Times analysis of the results refers to steps increasingly taken by the featured universities in particular to combat the phenomenon of ‘fake news’ and disregard of experts. Last year, fourth placed Cambridge established the Winton Centre for Risk and Evidence Communication, ensuring the accurate and transparent presentation of facts.

The report also shows that universities have “made missteps” by putting students or staff with no communications background in charge of their social media channels, which has negatively affected the rankings of some institutions.

British universities tended to outperform their European counterparts in the survey, as leading unis in Belgium, Germany and France lost ground to Asian institutions.

The full rankings and analysis can be read here.