Edinburgh and King's College London have edged into the top 20 of the QS World University rankings.
Cambridge, UCL, Imperial and Oxford all made it into the top 10.
But John O'Leary, of QS, warned that unless the UK puts more funding into higher education its leading position could slip.
Edinburgh rose to 17th place from 21st last year and King's College London to 19th from 26th in 2012.
The top UK university Cambridge was in third position, behind Massachusetts Institute of Technology at the top of the table and Harvard in second.
University College London (UCL) and Imperial occupied fourth and fifth places, with Oxford in sixth.
Universities in the United States made up the rest of the top 10.
There were eight UK universities in the top 50 and 18 in the top 100, with graduates from Oxford and Cambridge rated as the world's most employable by 27,000 global graduate employers polled for the ranking.
"Clearly the prestige of a UK degree is recognized by employers around the world, and the brand-name value of Oxbridge has so far survived any negative publicity following the tuition fee hikes and student protests," said Ben Sowter, head of research at QS.
However the rankings also suggest that UK universities struggle to keep up with the US when it comes to cutting-edge research.
Of UK universities, only Cambridge made the top 30 for research citations, with UCL, Oxford and Imperial in the top 50.
"The UK invests below the OECD average in higher education, so it is unrealistic to expect its universities to continue to punch above their weight indefinitely," said John O'Leary, of the QS global academic advisory board.
"The current success of leading institutions shows how vital it is that the government matches the investments being made by other countries in order to maintain their world-class status."
Universities minister David Willetts said the rankings were "fantastic news for the universities, their academics, and their students, who are some of the most employable in the world - however we are not complacent, and know we must work hard to remain the best".
He added: "Our reforms to undergraduate finance have put universities on a sustainable financial footing and sharpened incentives to deliver a world-class student experience.
"We have protected research funding, encouraging universities to invest in cutting-edge research and we are helping our universities make the most of the growing opportunities globally through our international education strategy."
在最新出爐的QS世界大學(xué)排名中,英國(guó)有6所大學(xué)進(jìn)了前20名,其中,劍橋大學(xué)(第三)、倫敦大學(xué)學(xué)院(第四)、帝國(guó)理工學(xué)院(第五)以及牛津大學(xué)(第 六)躋身前十名。美國(guó)的大學(xué)仍然在前20名中占多數(shù)位置,其中,麻省理工學(xué)院和哈佛大學(xué)占據(jù)了前兩位。同時(shí),此次排名針對(duì)2.7萬(wàn)全球畢業(yè)生雇主的調(diào)查也 顯示,牛津和劍橋的畢業(yè)生是全球最值得雇傭的畢業(yè)生。QS調(diào)查研究負(fù)責(zé)人表示,這說(shuō)明全球雇主都認(rèn)可英國(guó)的學(xué)位,牛津劍橋的品牌價(jià)值也沒有因?yàn)樽罱膶W(xué)費(fèi) 上漲和學(xué)生抗議等負(fù)面消息而受到影響。不過(guò),此次排名同時(shí)也說(shuō)明英國(guó)大學(xué)在前沿研究方面遜色于美國(guó)大學(xué),英國(guó)大學(xué)中只有劍橋大學(xué)進(jìn)入了研究引用量前30 名。
Top 10 universities in the rankings:
1 Massachusetts Institute of Technology 麻省理工學(xué)院 美國(guó)
2 University of Cambridge 劍橋大學(xué) 英國(guó)
3 Harvard University 哈佛大學(xué) 美國(guó)
4 University College London 倫敦大學(xué)學(xué)院 英國(guó)
5 University of Oxford 牛津大學(xué) 英國(guó)
6 Imperial College London 帝國(guó)理工 英國(guó)
7 Yale University 耶魯大學(xué) 美國(guó)
8 University of Chicago 芝加哥大學(xué) 美國(guó)
9 Princeton University 普林斯頓大學(xué) 美國(guó)
10 California Institute of Technology 加州理工學(xué)院 美國(guó)