European universities have attacked the rankings – topped by Harvard, the University of California at Berkeley and Stanford – for their methodology, which uses criteria such as the number of Nobel Prizes, prominent faculty members and articles published in Nature and Science magazines.

Places at American universities, with their superior facilities, wealthy alumni networks and massive financial endowments that enable them to offer scholarships to the brightest minds, are prized in China far above places in British universities. Post-graduation job prospects in the US are often perceived as superior to those in the UK.

Michaela Saisana, an analyst for the European Commission, said the methodology failed to account for the specific strengths or missions of the world’s top schools.

“They’re fine for explaining how close the Chinese are to the rest, such as Europe or the US, but not for comparisons amongst universities,” she said.

British universities have become increasingly reliant on fees paid by non-EU students, and the Jiaotong report could prove damaging.

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