Oxford beats Cambridge to become Britain's top research university

Oxford University has overtaken its rival Cambridge University as Britain's leading research university.

According the Guardian, the results of the 2014 Research Excellence Framework (Ref) come after a two-year-long assessment of research quality, which would also determine division of 2 billion pounds funding.

Nearly half of the research produced by the University's 2,400 academics was given 4 star rating, while output of University College London's 2,600 staff placed it above Cambridge's 2,100, according to analysis of the results by Research Fortnight, which would be pored over by the 52,000 academics at 154 institutions who took part in the huge public assessment of their research output.

William Cullerne Bown of Research Fortnight said that based on the results, an increasing proportion of research funding was likely to go to the so-called "Golden Triangle" of Oxford, Cambridge and London universities, with Oxford in the top run to take the largest share.

Prof Andrew Hamilton, Oxford University's vice-chancellor, said he was delighted by the results, adding that "research was an intensely competitive activity and they were planning to respond to worldwide competition in the world of research, the recruitment of leading academics and outstanding students".