St Andrews University’s reputation as a world-class university is on the up, despite the latest international rankings suggesting that UK institutions could be losing ground amid continuing fierce competition from overseas.
St Andrews has risen from 117th to 111th in a new global league table.
Dundee University has fallen out of the list, with the nation’s key centres of excellence found in the “golden” triangle of London, Oxford and Cambridge, it claims.
The latest Times Higher Education World University Rankings for 2014/15, powered by Thomson Reuters, shows that, overall, the UK is holding its position, with 29 institutions in the top 200 more than any other country except the United States.
But this is also two less than last year.
Three UK institutions have fallen out of the top 200 Reading University, Dundee and Newcastle while St George’s, University of London, makes a first appearance, moving into 196th place.
A Dundee University spokesman said: “This latest result comes in the context of improved standings for Dundee in several other league tables, including the 2014 National Student Survey, in which we achieved record results, and the latest Times Higher Education (THE) Student Experience Survey, which rated us top in Scotland and joint fourth in the UK.”
A spokesman for St Andrews University said: “We’re pleased to be bucking an international trend by rising in these rankings.
“The challenge for us is to close the gap between our standing in UK league tables and our position in the world rankings.
“We are moving in the right direction,” he added.
The list shows a relatively positive picture for other Scottish institutions with Edinburgh University up to 36th from 39th, Glasgow up to 94th from 117th and Aberdeen up to 178th from 188th.