The publication today of the Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2010-11 must act as a “wake-up call” according to Universities UK President Professor Steve Smith. Despite showing that the UK remains second only to the US in terms of the strength of its university system (29 UK universities in the world top 200), the tables show growing competition from other countries.

Professor Steve Smith, President of Universities UK, said: “The tables may show that the UK remains the second-strongest university system in the world, but the most unmistakeable conclusion is that this position is genuinely under threat.

“The higher education sector is one of the UK's international success stories, but it faces unprecedented competition. Our competitors are investing significant sums in their universities, just when the UK is contemplating massive cuts in its expenditure on universities and science.

“Clearly, league tables must always come with a health warning as they never tell the whole story, but these rankings provide a useful indicator of international trends.

“This must serve as a wake-up call before big decisions are taken on university funding next month in the form of the government's spending review and the recommendations of Lord Browne's review into university funding and fees.”
ENDS

Notes

1. The Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2010-11 will be published on Thursday at: http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/world-university-rankings/ For further information about the Rankings, please contact Times Higher Education on: 0203 194 3046 / eddie.buckley@tsleducation.com / louis.blake@tsleducation.com

2. The Times Higher Education has employed an entirely new methodology for the World University Rankings 2010-11 which is less heavily weighted towards subjective assessments of reputation and uses more robust citation measures.

3. In his keynote speech to the Universities UK annual conference last week, Professor Steve Smith highlighted the UK’s lower levels of investment in higher education compared to other OECD countries (The UK invests 1.3 per cent of its gross domestic product on tertiary education. The US spends more than twice as much, 2.9 per cent, while Australia spends 1.6 per cent and Canada 2.7 per cent. The OECD average is 1.4 per cent) and also highlighted the  investment in education and research by many competitor countries during the recession.