Harvard 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ has topped an annual world university ranking compiled by Shanghai Jiao Tong 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ for the eighth year in a row.

The league table is once again dominated by US institutions, with Harvard followed by the 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ of California, Berkeley second and Stanford 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ third.

Eight of the top 10 institutions are American, with the 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ of Cambridge (fifth) and 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ of Oxford (10th) flying the flag for the rest of the world.

While widely respected, the Shanghai Jiao Tong ranking is based almost entirely on scientific research strength, in contrast to the upcoming Times Higher Education World 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ Rankings, which will offer a broader overview of universities' strengths.

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The THE rankings have been overhauled for 2010, with the old methodology replaced by a new, more rigorous approach and all data supplied by Thomson Reuters. Among the changes is a 30 per cent weighting for a new "teaching and learning environment" measure, including the first teaching reputation score in the global ranking field.

In the Shanghai Jiao Tong table, which was published last week, the highest non-US institution other than Cambridge and Oxford is the 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ of Tokyo in 20th place.

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The top-rated institution from mainland Europe is the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich (23rd), while the Australian National 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ is the country's highest flyer (59th). No Chinese institutions make the top 100.

The other UK institutions to make the list are: 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ College London (21st), Imperial College London (26th), the 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ of Manchester (44th), the 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ of Edinburgh (54th), King's College London (63rd), the 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ of Bristol (66th), the 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ of Nottingham (84th), the 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ of Sheffield (88th) and the 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ of Birmingham (99th). More than half of the top 100 - 54 institutions - are in the US, 10 are in the UK, 23 in mainland Europe, nine in the 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ Pacific region and four in Canada.

john.gill@tsleducation.com