Oxford University climbed one spot to claim third place in an annual ranking of the world’s higher education institutions.

Academic rivals Cambridge University ranked second and Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the United States celebrated twelve years at the top of the QS World University Rankings.

This was twentieth edition of the rankings released by global higher education specialists QS Quacquarelli Symonds.

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Featuring 1,500 institutions across 104 locations, it is the only ranking of its kind to emphasise employability and sustainability.

The results draw on the analysis of 17.5million academic papers and the expert opinions of more than 240,000 academic faculty and employers.

Oxford University beat out prestigious American institutions like Harvard and Stanford University, which finished fourth and fifth respectively, as well as London-based universities including Imperial College (sixth) and University College London (ninth).

This year, QS introduced three new metrics - sustainability, employment outcomes, and international research network.