Delft University of Technology has dropped out of the top 50 in the Times Higher Education list of the world’s universities with the best reputations.

Delft was the best performing Dutch institution last year in 42^nd place. It has now fallen to the 51-60 ranking alongside the University of Amsterdam the new list, published on Thursday, shows.

Delft chairman Dirk Jan van den Berg told the Telegraaf the drop in the ranking was ‘a pity’ but said: ‘Our university’s reputation remains very good. That is important to continue attracting talented students and researchers from all over the world.’

Leiden, Wageningen ( 61-70) and Utrecht (71-80) also feature in the top 100.

The ranking is based on the ‘subjective judgement’ of 10,500 academics from 133 countries worldwide and is a spin off from the organisation’s world university rankings.