Concern for UK's education standing

It came as new World University Rankings revealed Cambridge and Oxford have slipped down the table to third and fourth place respectively.

The Russell Group, which represents 20 research-intensive universities, said there was increasing global competition from other nations who were investing more money in higher education than the UK.

Dr Wendy Piatt, director general of the Russell Group, said while they had reservations about the use and accuracy of "league tables" the group was pleased that their universities were continuing to perform well against major global competitors.

But she added: "We are very concerned about our ability to sustain this level of success in the face of fierce global competition.

"The table reflects the growing strength of our major competitors - particularly the US institutions - who benefit from much higher levels of investment than UK universities."

She added increased competition was not just from the US.

"As a result of huge investment in higher education and science in recent years, China already looks set to overtake the UK very soon in terms of total research publications, and its universities have been steadily climbing up international league tables," she said.

Funding is also increasing rapidly in India, the Middle East, Brazil and Australia while France and Germany are undertaking major programmes to pump millions of Euros into their leading research universities, with the aim of improving their international standing.

Dr Piatt said: "Without increased investment there is a real danger that the UK's success will not be sustained."