Capital's universities climb world league table as UK slumps

Leading London universities have risen in the world ranking of higher education institutions this year despite Britain sliding in the international league.

The capital has two universities among the world's top 10 Imperial College and University College London. UCL rose from ninth place to seventh and King's College London rose from 24th to 22nd position.

Imperial fell one place to fifth in the rankings compiled by the Times Higher Education magazine and QS Quacquarelli Symonds. UCL Provost Professor Malcolm Grant welcomed the results but said league table success was "not an end in itself".

He added: "For all of the sector's reservations about league tables, we have to recognise that their publication has focused attention on the importance of universities."

Phil Baty, deputy editor of Times Higher Education magazine, said most of the UK's world-class universities slipped down the rankings, as America cemented its dominance. "The US invests more than twice as much in higher education, in terms of GDP, than the UK," he said. "Harvard University has an endowment fund that is larger than the total public funding for all universities in England.

Cambridge and Oxford fell from joint second a year ago to third and fourth, beaten by Yale and Harvard which came first.

The UK had 29 universities in the top 200, one fewer than last year. Of these, 22 slipped down the rankings.