The annual QS world university rankings have been announced with Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) maintaining its position as the No.1 university, whilst British institutions have recorded their best ever performance and managed to claim four of the top six places. Imperial College and University of Cambridge followed close behind MIT, ranking joint 2nd, whilst the University of Oxford and University College London (UCL) both achieved joint 5th in the table. Harvard is the other top performer taking 4th spot.

The QS survey is regarded as one of the most rigorous of its type and is highly regarded in the academic world. It measures universities by their research quality, graduate employment, staff-to-student ratios, teaching standards and the number of international students.