BOURNEMOUTH University has been ranked in a prestigious list naming the world’s top 200 “most international universities”.

The accolade comes from the Times Higher Education World University Rankings, which took into account the institution’s proportion of international staff, students and research papers published by overseas authors.

In a league table that saw Qatar University finish top, BU was placed 171st out of the 800 universities assessed.

This, BU’s vice-chancellor John Vinney said, was “very welcome news”.

“This follows from our news Global BU strategy, in which we commit to developing global talent in all our staff and students, driving global thinking through our research and delivering global traction through professional practice,” he said.

“I am very pleased that we are attracting high quality students and staff from around the world, many who undertake research here which has an international impact and we are committed to an educational experience that combines internationalisation and employability for all our students."

Phil Baty, editor of the Times Higher Education Rankings, said: “An institution’s global outlook is one of the key markers of a prestigious university.

“The top institutions hire faculty from all over the world, attract students from a global market of top talent and collaborate with leading departments wherever they happen to be based."

The honour comes just a year after BU was named in the Times Higher Education's top 500 universities in the world for the first time.

It also rose in all three major UK university league tables in 2015, including the Complete University Guide, Guardian University Guide and The Sunday Times Good University Guide.