The universities of Oxford and Cambridge have slid down the global university rankings for the second year in a row. Oxford fell from third to fourth and Cambridge from fifth to sixth in the 2026 QS World University Rankings. The two universities were placed behind Imperial College London for the second year in a row, with the London establishment placed in second. Only Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the US – which secured the top spot in the rankings once again – outperformed Imperial College London. In total, four British universities made the top 10 in the international league table, with University College London retaining ninth place. However, 54 UK universities dropped down in the new rankings, released on Thursday, including the University of Glasgow, the University of Manchester, the University of Warwick and the London School of Economics. Some 11 UK universities maintained their position in the 2026 table, while 24 improved their position – the University of Sheffield and the University of Nottingham returned to the global top 100 at 92nd and 97th respectively. Jessica Turner, chief executive of QS said: “The UK government is seeking to slash capital funding in a higher education system that has already sustained financial pressure, introduce an international student levy and shorten the length of the graduate visa route to 18 months from two years. “This could accumulate in a negative impact on the quality and breadth of higher education courses and research undertaken across the country. “While the UK Government has placed research and development as a key part of the recent spending review, universities across the country will need more support to ensure their stability going ahead. “At the same time, global competitors are seeing their governments increase investment in higher education and research, leading to international peers gaining and, in many cases, overtaking UK universities in the QS World University Rankings.” She added: “The UK has until now been one of the countries to dominate QS World University Rankings, but institutions in the country are facing heightened competition internationally. “A targeted approach is necessary by both government and individual institutions to ensure that the higher education excellence the country is renowned for is secured for the future, essential to delivering productivity in a knowledge-based economy and attracting top global talent.” ‘Competition is exceptionally tight’ Oxford and Cambridge’s lower rankings came as Stanford University, in the US, surged to third place, leapfrogging Harvard, Cambridge and Oxford. Cambridge dropped 11 positions to 107th when it came to the metric “citations per faculty”, which refers to the average number of times an academic’s work is referred to in academic articles. Jessica Turner, chief executive of QS, told The Telegraph that the universities falling one place in the rankings “does not necessarily indicate a decline in performance”. She said: “The competition at the very top is exceptionally tight, and the difference between positions often comes down to fractions of a point. “In fact, the gap between Oxford and Cambridge this year is just 0.7 points in overall score, highlighting how marginal these shifts can be. “In many cases, a drop in rank isn’t due to a decline in performance, but rather the accelerated progress of peers.”