Bad news for Oxbridge, good news for Britain

The two best academic institutions in Britain are now Imperial College London and Cambridge, according to the latest international university league tables.

Imperial College has soared up the rankings this year to secure second place behind the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, making it the top UK university in the tables – equal with Cambridge – for the first time. It means that Britain has four institutions in the top five best universities in the world (which could be viewed as a top six due to two entries coming in at number five).

The top 10 academic institutions according to the QS World University Rankings, published today. Last year's numbers are in brackets.

1. Massachusetts Institute of Technology (1)

2=. Cambridge (3)

2=. Imperial college London (pictured) (5)

4. Harvard (2)

5. Oxford (6)

5=. UCL (4)

7. Stanford (7)

8. California Institute of Technology (10=)

9. Princeton (10=)

10. Yale (8)