Students at Imperial College have scorned news that their college has been overtaken by arch-rival UCL in the latest world rankings – branding the findings “a joke”.The Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU), complied annually by Shanghai Jiao Tong University in China, showed UCL climb three places to 22nd in the world, while Imperial dropped from 23rd to 27th.The results contrast with the Times-QS World Rankings 2007, which place Imperial 5th with UCL 9th.Hannah Theodoru, Imperial Union Deputy President said: “I think rankings overrated and overused and people need to learn to take them only as guidance.”UCL Provost Malcolm Grant welcomed the findings:”These new rankings confirm UCL’s strengths – and steady improvement – on the global stage.”A UCL spokesperson added: “We don’t go overboard in league table success – it is pleasing, but it’s one of many indicators of success, so we keep that in mind.”Jovan Nedic, Editor-in-Chief of Imperial’s student paper Felix, said: “I mean just look at the [ARWU] website, that alone tells you that this ranking is a joke. None of the scoring categories are explained and the ones that are obvious are not the best indication on what university is all about. It calls itself an academic ranking, so why is a score on Alumni important?”This ranking is nothing more than a joke and I’m surprised that London Student are even bothering to look at it.”As to whether the new rankings meant UCL was ‘better‘, he continued: “Academics and employers alike all recognise the Times one as the standard, only those results will mean anything to Imperial students, until then, UCL and the other 21 above Imperial can (in case they don’t get that, I mean all the ones that are between 6th and 27th) can only dream to be better!”The difference between criteria used in university rankings is a long-standing bone of contention. While ARWU gives higher scores to universities whose staff and students win Nobel Prizes, The Times bases 40 per cent of its scoring on researchers peer-review – where experts are asked to list institutions they think are top in their area.