Oxford, Cambridge top rankings of European universities

The universities of Oxford and Cambridge topped the list of the best universities published by the Times Higher Education Thursday.

Oxford ranked first and Cambridge second among the top 200 universities. The Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich, ranked fourth, is the only non-British institution to make it into the top five of the ranking. British universities fill 46 out of the 200 rankings.

Germany is the second most-represented nation in the list of the top universities in Europe, with 36 institutions, almost a third of which (11) are in the top 50.

Institutions were measured on teaching environment, the research environment, citations and international outlook.

This is the first time Times Higher Education has issued European university rankings, and it has expanded its data collection and changed its methodology, so direct comparisons with previous world rankings of universities are difficult.

However, the European rankings revealed some interesting features.

Phil Baty, editor of world university rankings, told Xinhua on Thursday: "The UK has always been dominant with Oxford and Cambridge, but for me Germany is a real rising star, primarily led by a government that is committed to making the universities more competitive."

Baty said the main reason for Germany's success was that the government had decided to make leading universities "more competitive with a clear focus on giving them more funding."

Baty said that the different models of funding across Europe were also evident: "They illustrate that Europe has great strength in its diversity. There are successful universities from across the continent."

"What was really surprising to me was that there are different models of excellence -- Britain has high tuition fees but dominating the top of the rankings but as a nation not doing quite as well as Germany with no tuition fees. Some European states are like China in that they invest heavily in universities and they are linked to public goals," he added.

Sweden and Finland performed well in relation to their population size with 11 and six institutions respectively. Sweden's top university the Karolinska Institute is in ninth place, while Finland's University of Helsinki is in joint 28th.

Other strong performers relative to population size include Denmark, with six universities led by the University of Copenhagen at 33; the Republic of Ireland, with six led by Trinity College Dublin at 78; and Switzerland with nine institutions. Endit