<p>I agree that Imperial being sixth is a bit absurd. Yet given peer review is 40%, I don’t find the current or former University of London constituent schools doing so well to be an oddity at all. Imperial, as well as the London School of Economics, London Business School, University College London, King’s College London, Queen Mary, etc. are all major PhD faculty providers (both in size and in academic heft) not just to other UK research universities, but indeed most of the British Commonwealth. Faculties in Canada, Australia, Singapore, Hong Kong, the rich Gulf States, and New Zealand to name just a few are quite full of London graduates. Meanwhile, schools in continental Europe, some of which have had a hard time matching the research environment the brits have carved out, likewise eat them up.</p>