The University of Oxford has knocked the California Institute of Technology off the top spot in annual league tables , becoming the first UK institution to lead the rankings .
The five-time champion, Caltech, dropped to second place, swapping places with the elite UK university, while the rest of the top 10 positions remained unchanged from last year.
The University of Cambridge and Imperial College London , also feature in the top 10, while University College London (UCL) slipped from 14th place last year, to 15th this year.
Overall, the UK takes 91 of the top 980 places in the 13th annual Times Higher Education rankings; 88 of these make the top 800 compared with 78 last year.
It is second only to the US for the number of world-class universities featured in the top 800. Within the top 200, the UK has 32 representatives – two less than last year.
What are the different university rankings and how to read them?

View Guide
Phil Baty, editor of the rankings, said: "It is fantastic news that the University of Oxford has topped the World University Rankings for the first time. It is a great result for the UK higher education sector and cements its position as one of the greatest university nations in the world.
"However, the UK will have to watch out for Asia’s continuing ascent. Although the notion of Asia as the ‘next higher education superpower’ has become something of a cliché in recent years, the continent’s rise in the rankings is real and growing.
He continued: “[In the UK, Brexit] is already causing uncertainty for the sector. As well as some top academics reporting they have been frozen out of collaborative research projects with EU colleagues, many are admitting that they might look to relocate to a university outside the country.
“The UK must ensure that it limits the damage to academics, students, universities and science during its Brexit negotiations, to ensure that the UK remains one of the world leaders in higher education.”

Top 100 world universities - Times Higher Education
Rank 2016-17
Rank 2015-16
Institution
Country
1
2
University of Oxford
United Kingdom
2
1
California Institute of Technology
United States
3
3
Stanford University
United States
4
4
University of Cambridge
United Kingdom
5
5
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
United States
6
6
Harvard University
United States
7
7
Princeton University
United States
8
8
Imperial College London
United Kingdom
9
9
ETH Zurich – Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich
Switzerland
10
13
University of California, Berkeley
United States
10
10
University of Chicago
United States
12
12
Yale University
United States
13
17
University of Pennsylvania
United States
14
16
University of California, Los Angeles
United States
15
14
University College London
United Kingdom
16
15
Columbia University
United States
17
11
Johns Hopkins University
United States
18
20
Duke University
United States
19
18
Cornell University
United States
20
25
Northwestern University
United States
21
21
University of Michigan
United States
22
19
University of Toronto
Canada
23
22
Carnegie Mellon University
United States
24
26
National University of Singapore
Singapore
25
23
London School of Economics and Political Science
United Kingdom
25
32
University of Washington
United States
27
24
University of Edinburgh
United Kingdom
28
28
Karolinska Institute
Sweden
29
42
Peking University
China
30
31
École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne
Switzerland
30
29
LMU Munich
Germany
32
30
New York University
United States
33
41
Georgia Institute of Technology
United States
33
33
University of Melbourne
Australia
35
47
Tsinghua University
China
36
34
University of British Columbia
Canada
36
36
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
United States
36
27
King’s College London
United Kingdom
39
43
University of Tokyo
Japan
40
35
KU Leuven
Belgium
41
39
University of California, San Diego
United States
42
38
McGill University
Canada
43
37
Heidelberg University
Germany
43
44
University of Hong Kong
Hong Kong
45
50
University of Wisconsin-Madison
United States
46
53
Technical University of Munich
Germany
47
52
Australian National University
Australia
48
39
University of California, Santa Barbara
United States
49
59
Hong Kong University of Science and Technology
Hong Kong
50
46
University of Texas at Austin
United States
See the rest @ www.thebiginfotoday..com