The Times Higher Education World Reputation Rankings 2018 are based on the world’s largest invitation-only opinion survey of senior, published academics. It asks scholars to name no more than 15 universities that they believe are the best for research and teaching in their field, based on their own experience.

The US continues to dominate the table in 2018, with Harvard University taking the top spot for the eighth consecutive year, and 43 other US institutions making the top 100. The University of California, Los Angeles joins the top 10 for the first time since 2014, ranking at joint 9th (up from 13th last year) alongside the University of Chicago.

The UK claims nine places, down from 10 last year. Cambridge and Oxford take fourth and fifth place respectively, but most UK universities lose ground.

Australia retains three top 100 institutions, although two have dropped slightly.

Germany’s performance has also suffered. It has six universities in the top 100 – the same number as last year – but three of those have fallen from their 2017 standings.

Half of China’s six representatives have also fallen, although its two frontrunners – Tsinghua and Peking – have maintained their positions at 14th and 17th respectively.

Japan has five institutions across the top 100 (down from six), and four of these have declined.

But Singapore performs well with its two ranked institutions rising, and India makes the ranking for the first time since 2011, with the Indian Institute of Science making the 91-100 band.

Overall, 21 countries are represented across the top 100 list of the most powerful global university brands.