UK universities face 'collapse into mediocrity', latest rankings predict

By David Jobbins. The United Kingdom still has some of the best universities on the planet, vying for the top slots in the latest Times Higher Education World University Rankings with leading US universities.
But their relative strength lower down the rankings is under pressure and they face a collapse in their global position within a generation, the rankings’ compilers warn.
Phil Baty, editor of the rankings, likened the coalition government’s policy of permitting universities to triple tuition fees in England to “a sticking plaster for an amputation”.
A slide in the UK’s middle-ranking universities contrasts with big gains across Asia-Pacific countries, representing a shift in power from West to East.
The California Institute of Technology retains the top placing this year. But Oxford rises two places in the 2012-13 table to take joint second place with Stanford University, pushing Harvard into fourth position.
Cambridge is down one place to seventh and Imperial College London holds on to eighth place. The rest of the top 10 are from the US.
While the UK remains the second best represented country behind the US in the world top 200, with seven top 50 universities and 31 top 200 institutions, it has suffered substantial losses in stark contrast to gains for most of Asia’s leading institutions.
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