Dhaka University (DU) and North South University (NSU) have been ranked as the top two Bangladeshi universities in Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2023.

Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2023 - which includes 1,799 universities across 104 countries and regions - placed DU and NSU between 601 and 800 higher education institutions worldwide, reports UNB.

The ranking is based on 13 carefully calibrated performance indicators that measure an institution's performance across four areas: teaching, research, knowledge transfer and international outlook.

Bangladesh Agricultural University (BAU), Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET), and Khulna University of Engineering and Technology (KUET) were placed between 1201 and 1500 universities worldwide.

The University of Oxford topped the ranking for the seventh consecutive year. Harvard University remained in second place, but the University of Cambridge jumped from joint fifth last year to joint third.

The US was the most-represented country overall, with 177 institutions, and also the most represented in the top 200 (58).

China had the fourth-highest number of institutions in the top 200 (11, compared to 10 last year), having overtaken Australia, which dropped to fifth (jointly with the Netherlands).

Five countries entered the ranking for the first time - all of them in Africa (Zambia, Namibia, Mozambique, Zimbabwe and Mauritius).

Harvard topped the teaching pillar. Oxford led the research pillar.