THE UNIVERSITY of York has slipped two places down a worldwide higher education ranking.

According to the Times Higher Education (THE) World University Rankings, published on Tuesday, the top two universities in the world are to be found in the UK.

Oxford is still in first place, with Cambridge rising from fourth place to second - the first time the prestigious institutions have taken the top two spots in the 13-year history of the rankings.

The University of York, however, has seen its ranking slip from 129th to 137th, equal with the Pohang University of Science and Technology in South Korea and just one place above the University of Leeds, which has also slipped down the rankings from 133rd.

The rankings also show that York has a 15: 1 staff to student ratio, while 27 per cent of its students are international students.

Out of 31 UK universities to make the top 200, 16 have seen a fall in their position, compared to last year.

Phil Baty, editorial director of the THE global rankings, said UK higher education is facing “intense political pressure”, but that the data shows that the nation has “many of the very best universities in the world”.

The top five institutions in the UK are, according to the THE ranking, Oxford, Cambridge, Imperial College London, University College London, and the London School of Economics and Political Science.

York comes in 17th in the UK.