THE global success of Scotland's universities has been recognised in a new international league table.

Scotland currently has three institutions ranked in the top 100 universities in the world, according to the annual QS rankings.

The top Scottish institution is Edinburgh, which came 21st.

The second ranked institution was Glasgow University, which came 54th.

The third university in the top 100 was St Andrews. It took 93rd place in the survey run by QS, an international careers and education network.

A spokeswoman for Universities Scotland said Scotland regularly punched above its weight in the higher education sector.

"These rankings confirm Scotland's higher education sector is truly excellent in global terms," she said.