British universities dominate the world Top Ten rankings for the first time this year, with London institutions climbing higher than ever.

Cambridge is the highest placed British institution, coming second only to Harvard. University College London (UCL) made the biggest gains, moving into fourth place — its highest position. But Oxford fell to joint fifth with Imperial College London.

The world rankings, published today in the Times Higher Education magazine, are based on surveys of academics and the views of employers about the best graduates. They also take into account the amount of research produced by academics, ratios of students to staff, and the number of international students.

A spokesman for Oxford University said that its position behind Cambridge, UCL and Imperial was “surprising, given that Oxford has the highest research income of any British university and has come first in every national league table”.

It is the first time in the six-year history of the world rankings that Oxbridge’s position as the two leading British institutions has been broken.

Student satisfaction ratings are not taken into account in the international rankings. But in domestic tables, which consider the views of students, Oxford fared well this year. It came top of both The Times and The Sunday Times rankings.

Ben Sowter, the head of research at QS, the education consultancy that compiled the tables, said: “There is a growing trend for London as an international brand and this contributes to the ability of its universities to attract leading international students and faculty. Oxford and Cambridge are always going to maintain a measure of prestige and excellence but on the international stage there are some different aspects coming in to play.”

Professor Malcolm Grant, the president of UCL, said: “We are pleased by UCL’s spectacular progression up the tables in recent years, because it does reflect the truly outstanding quality of UCL’s community of academics and of our students from around the world.”

American universities have traditionally fared well in the table but this year the number of US institutions in the top 100 fell to 36, down from 42 in 2008. Researchers said that this reflected the “growing presence and impact of Asian and European institutions on the world higher education stage”.

Asian universities increased their number in the rankings from 14 to 16 this year. Britain has 18 universities in the top 100, one more than in 2008.

All top ten universities scored between 95.9 and 100 points, so small differences in institutions made large differences in rank order.

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