Oxford ranked world's top university as Brexit looms

University of Oxford has topped a global education ranking for the first time.

However, its vice-chancellor warned that the exit of Britain (Brexit) from the European Union could damage its long-term prospects.

Oxford is the oldest university in the English-speaking world and feeder for the British elite.

Oxford knocked the leader for the last five years, California Institute of Technology, into second place in the Times Higher Education's global league table, which also saw Chinese universities climb rapidly.

Phil Baty, editor of the rankings, said Oxford, which educated four of the last six British Prime Ministers, ousted its US rival after its research funding rose 10 per cent and overall funding rose to $1.83 billion (Sh183 billion), while the impact of its research increased.

But Mr Baty said Britain's exit from the EU "is a serious risk to our success" by making it harder to attract top academic staff and plug them into research projects.

Brexit risks driving away students, staff and funding, Oxford Vice Chancellor Louise Richardson told the BBC radio.

Prof Richardson said rival universities had stepped up efforts to poach the 17 per cent of the university's faculty who are EU citizens, and whose status in Britain was no longer guaranteed following the June 23 vote.

"There are many universities in the world that would be thrilled to have them and who are approaching them and asking if they would return to their universities instead," she said.

The Government had also offered no reassurance that it would replace around $87 million (Sh8.7 billion) a year it receives from the European Research Council to fund its work, she said. "To be honest we're really quite worried about it," she said.

While Oxford, the University of Cambridge and London's Imperial College make the top 10 along with ETH Zurich, the list is dominated by US universities.

Stanford University is ranked third, Cambridge fourth, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology fifth, Harvard sixth, Princeton seventh, Imperial eighth and ETH Zurich ninth.