According to the latest list provided by the Centre for World University Rankings, Edinburgh is the third best university in the UK, beaten only by Oxbride, University College London and Imperial College London.

Edinburgh sits very close to the top of the 25,000 strong table of degree awarding institutions.

Not only was Edinburgh ranked highly within the UK, it was also ranked 55th best in the world, placing it within the top 0.25% of the world's universities.

The ranking tables take into account factors such as quality of teaching, alumni employment and academic citations as well as a score for "broad impact".

Earlier in the year rankings provided by QS placed Edinburgh as the 22nd best in the world and the third best place for students to study linguistics.