St Andrews University is one of the top 100 in the world, according to a new international league table.
Scotland’s oldest university is placed 83rd in the QS World University Rankings 2013/2014, its highest ever placing in the table published online at www.topuniversities.com.
The top-ranked UK university is Cambridge, which has slipped down a place to third this year, behind Massachusetts Institute of Technology which was also first last year and Harvard, both leading US universities.
Also in the top 10 were University College London in fourth place, Imperial College London in fifth, and Oxford in sixth.
The other institutions in the top 10 were all in the United States.
Edinburgh and King’s College London both moved up into the top 20 in 17th and 19th place respectively.
St Andrews has shown one of the greatest improvements amongst UK universities in its standing in the annual global league table, moving up 10 places from last year.
The university was rated particularly highly for the reputation of its arts and humanities faculty and its ability to attract the best international staff and students.
This year, St Andrews was also ranked within the top 200 in the world for its quality of students, its academic reputation, number of academic citations and its reputation among employers.
The largest and most extensive listings of its kind, the QS league table considers a range of factors including academic reputation, research strengths, citations, reputation amongst graduate employers and international influence.
Principal and vice-chancellor Professor Louise Richardson said: “As we approach the culmination of our 600th anniversary celebrations, it is very encouraging to witness the university’s rise in international rankings.”