Oxford University reaches highest ranking in World Reputation since 2015
The Times Higher Education World Reputation Rankings 2025, shows Oxford University in second place of ranking out of 300 other universities. This is the highest position for a UK university since 2015.
Also making the top five, the University of Cambridge came in fourth position. The Imperial College London, UCL, University of Edinburgh, London School of Economics and Political Science, King’s College London, and University of Manchester also all made the top 50 universities.
Remaining consistent
The World Reputation Ranking has been running for 14 years now, providing a year-on-year analysis, and each annum Harvard remains number confirming its status as the most prestigious college in the US (and globally.)
Ranking the highest Chinese University, Tsinghua maintains its position in eighth place globally for ‘academic reputation.’
New additions and features
In the 2025 edition of the reputational rankings, some universities climbed the ranks such as; LMU Munich, KU Leuven, Sorbonne University, the University of Melbourne, University of Hong Kong and University of Manchester. All of which joined the top 50 and gained a status as one of the elite institutions.
On top of this, ten new countries were also added to the statistics since last year, including these four: Chile, Malaysia, Poland and Portugal.
This year, a new methodology was used to develop the statistics for this report too. The Times Higher Education says the method provides ‘deeper insights than ever before into university prestige worldwide.’
‘Revamped methodology’
For the first time in 14 years, six indicators are being used to provide ‘a more robust’ assessment of the reputations of each university. This is said to ‘reflect the fact that the subject of reputation is gaining a wider audience among the academic community.’
Statistics for the new methodology is based on a survey which contains responses from 55,000 scholars globally. The survey is also said to be the world’s largest invite-only academic opinion survey. A new comparison measure has been introduced which ‘invites voters to consider a wider range of institutions.’ This is said to reward universities that receive votes from a wide range of subject areas in order to increase voter diversity.
What do the new rankings mean for universities
On top of bragging rights, the world rankings also tend to encourage international students with a larger income to apply for universities overseas.
For Chinese students in the UK , the following universities are the top five choices: University College London, University of Manchester, University of Edinburgh, Imperial College London, and University of Warwick. This statistics from SI-UK, shows that Chinese students are prioritising high-ranking universities in order to get a better value for their money, especially considering all of the choices (apart from Warwick) feature in the top 50 globally.
