17th October 2012 9:00
By Blue Tutors
New research into global higher education institutions has commentators worried that the best British Universities will be considered mediocre on a global scale within a generation. These concerns have come after leading British Universities have fallen down global league tables, with Asian institutions advancing quickly.
Cambridge, Oxford and London can still compete, but other top universities such as St Andrews have fallen out of the top 100, a trend which the Times Education Supplement has said is due to increased investment in research in America and Asia. Chinese universities in particular have climbed the tables at a rapid pace.
Wendy Pitt, director of the Russell Group, said that the government must concentrate investment in Britain’s world class research universities, as global competitors are pumping billions into higher education and research. She added that the UK cannot afford to be outmanoeuvred by countries that recognise investment in universities is the key to growth.