St Andrews has scraped into a list of the world’s top 100 universities.
Scotland’s oldest university was placed 97th in the QS World University Rankings published on Thursday.
Just three Scottish universities made it into the top 100.
Edinburgh University was the highest ranking Scottish institution in 18th place, with Glasgow next in joint 69th.
St Andrews Principal and Vice-Chancellor Professor Sally Mapstone said there were “lessons” to be learned.
She added: “There appears to be clear evidence that countries which invest in higher education are effectively investing in the ability of their universities to compete on a world stage.”
How Scottish universities performed (overall ranking in brackets)
- Edinburgh University (18)
- Glasgow University (=69)
- St Andrews University (97)
- Aberdeen University (172)
- Strathclyde University (268)
Dundee University did not make it into the top five in Scotland, with an overall ranking of 272. The university declined to comment.
The QS rankings assess universities under the criteria of academic reputation, how well they are regarded by employers, faculty to student ratio, how often they are cited in papers, and international student and faculty ratios.
Prof Mapstone said: “There are lessons for us all in the QS Rankings and the picture they paint not just of the UK higher education sector but our competitors and partners overseas.
“It is encouraging to see these rankings recognise St Andrews’ particular strengths in the international nature of our community of students and staff, and the improvement in our citations score is indicative of the way the research we carry out here has a truly global impact.
“It is a considerable achievement for a small country like Scotland to have four of its universities in the top 200 in the world, and I hope there can be a frank debate about how we can not only maintain that position but improve it, to do justice to the enormous potential in those who study, research and teach at all our universities.”
American universities topped the table.
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) was in first place, followed by Harvard and California Institute of Technology.
Oxford University was the best performing British institution in fifth place, closely followed by Cambridge.
