The annual Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) university rankings saw Imperial overtake Oxford and Harvard universities to come in behind the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
But the overall table made grim reading for UK institutions, including Cambridge dropping from second down to fifth, as 52 out of the 90 British universities received lower rankings this year.
Only 20, including Imperial, improved. University College London remained ninth overall.
Ben Sowter, QS's senior vicepresident, warned that some UK universities could be forced to close because of funding policies, while the sector was beginning to "lose its footing" in critical metrics such as staff-to-student ratios, job outcomes and academic reputation.
"The cumulative effects risk pushing UK higher education into a downward spiral towards irreversible decline," Sowter said, noting that more than 50 UK universities have recently announced job cuts.
"These cuts have been directly linked to drops in enrolment resulting from recently announced policies. It's not hard to see how this could lead to the gradual erosion of UK higher education," Sowter said.
Bu hikaye The Guardian dergisinin June 05, 2024 sayısından alınmıştır.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Giriş Yap
Bu hikaye The Guardian dergisinin June 05, 2024 sayısından alınmıştır.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Giriş Yap
Historic Hamilton thrills on way to ninth home victory
Mercedes driver shows mastery in wet conditions to end 945-day winless run
'I'm so proud he's a Lancastrian' - diehard fans pay their tributes to legend Anderson
Supporters see their favourite son show he has lost none of the old magic despite his Test career coming to an end
Kick or twist Smith's costly misses should force rethink for England in game of shrinking margins
Anyone who has ever played sport knows that desperate sinking feeling. One minute the world is a wonderful place and you are doing what you love most.
Royal Mail to go ahead with freight flight cuts in spite of takeover
The boss of Royal Mail's parent company has said the business will push on with a \"transformation\" of the group despite its £3.57bn takeover, as it prepares this month to cut more daily freight flights.
All eyes on Biden at Nato summit as leaders brace for Trump presidency
As European leaders and top defense officials from 31 Nato countries descend on Washington tomorrow, all eyes will be focused firmly on Joe Biden, whose faltering performance at last month's debate has added to concerns about the country that some Europeans already described as their \"unpredictable ally\".
Rob Burrow Celebratory farewell for rugby league inspiration
Children in full rugby kits play cheerfully in front of the Featherstone Lions rugby club in Pontefract as adults sporting bright jerseys drink, eat and chat joyfully.
Another new dawn? What Starmer's team can learn from 1997's New Labour
Veterans of Labour's 1997 victory party at the Royal Festival Hall by the end the dancefloor looked like a war zone strewn with dozing bodies - will remember the sense of disbelief and excitement as the scale of the landslide started to materialise.
Baverman is losing support as potential party leader, say Tories
Conservatives have suggested that the former home secretary Suella Braverman is losing support as a potential future party leader, as Tory MPs who lost votes across southern England privately urged colleagues to resist a lurch to the right.
Flying start Lightning trip begins reset of relationship with Europe
It felt like a deeply symbolic, even cathartic, moment on Saturday lunchtime as, on take off from Stansted, the pilot carrying the new foreign secretary, David Lammy, banked the government plane with the Union Jack livery sharply leftwards across the sodden and half occluded fields of Essex and towards Europe.
Lammy seeks EU security pact on defence, energy and climate crisis
Labour is seeking a sweeping joint declaration with the EU to usher in a wide-ranging security pact covering defence, energy, the climate crisis, pandemics and even illegal migration, the foreign secretary, David Lammy, has said.
