Harvard university has retained its number one spot on the Times Higher Education's world reputation ranking of universities, with US institutions taking eight of the top 10 positions.

Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Stanford follow to make up the top three. Cambridge and Oxford are both down one place on last year's rankings which puts them in fourth and fifth place respectively. The University of California, Berkeley, Princeton, Yale, California Institute of Technology and the University of California, Los Angeles take the remaining places in the top 10.

The US, with 46 institutions in the top 100, is named as an "undisputed superpower when it comes to university brands" by the creators of the list. In the release, they also highlight what they call "worrying evidence of reputational decline among UK institutions."

As in the past with these rankings, the UK has the second highest number of top 100 representatives and they've actually increased since last year - up one from nine in 2013. But the Times Higher Education argue, the UK's overall showing has worsened since 2011, when it had 12 representatives and warns of "polarisation between the ‘golden triangle' (London, Oxford and Cambridge) and the rest of the UK." Six London universities make the top 100 - more than any other city in the world.

Both Imperial College and the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) have moved up a place, to 13th and 24th respectively while University College London (UCL) has dropped five places to 25th. King's College London is one of the most improved institutions in this year's tables, rising from the 61-70 band to joint 43rd. The University of Edinburgh remains at 46th position, while the University of Manchester has dropped from 47th in 2013 to the 51-60 band. The London Business School and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine are both new entries to the list. ... More