Imperial climbs to fifth in the world in new global rankings

Centenary year sees a jump from ninth place in THES world league table - <em>News</em>

Thursday 8 November 2007
By Abigail Smith

Imperial has been named the fifth best university in the world by new international rankings published today.

The accolade comes in the Times Higher Education Supplement's 2007 World University Rankings, which reflect a combination of factors including peer assessment, graduate recruiter feedback, research citations and student-staff ratios.

This year's position is a jump from 2006, which saw Imperial enter the world top ten for the first time at number nine. Congratulating Imperial staff in an email today, Rector Sir Richard Sykes said that the news capped a great year for the College:

"In 2007 we have celebrated our Centenary, we have become an independent university awarding our own degrees, and we have recommitted ourselves, through our new Royal Charter, to the research and teaching that will improve quality of life worldwide. Throughout the year there have been numerous individual and team triumphs in every area of the College.

"Today’s recognition reflects the commitment and brilliance that you demonstrate every day – it is that which makes the College a world-leading institution."

The 2007 World Rankings place Harvard in top position, and Cambridge, Oxford and Yale at joint second, followed by Imperial. London is represented in the top ten twice, with University College London taking Imperial's former position at number nine.

Imperial also features highly in the THES sub-rankings, coming sixth in the world for technology, seventh for life sciences and biomedicine and thirteenth for natural sciences.

This year's position marks a steady rise for the College, which was rated fourteenth in the world when the rankings were launched in 2004 and climbed to thirteenth the following year before breaking into the top ten in 2006.

A full list of the College's league table positions is online at www.imperial.ac.uk/aboutimperial/factsandfigures/leaguetables

The full World Rankings are available on the THES website at www.thes.co.uk/worldrankings(subscription required)

The 2007 top ten universities are:

• Harvard University
• University of Cambridge
• University of Oxford
• Yale University
• Imperial College London
• Princeton University
• California Institute of Technology (Caltech)
• University of Chicago
• University College London
• Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)