The rankings show that St Andrews, Dundee, Glasgow and Aberdeen have all dropped down the rankings, with Dundee falling out of the top 200. The University of Edinburgh has increased its ranking from 36 to 32. Similar, if not larger, falls have been seen from English institutions.
While NUS Scotland does not placing much emphasis on league tables, and there are many other league tables that show Scotland to continue to perform incredibly well, it is clear that tuition fees are not the answer.
Robin Parker, NUS Scotland President, said:
"We don't put huge store in league tables but clearly there's mixed news here. If there have been drops in our universities' work, across the areas looked at by Times Higher, then it's likely to reflect the funding drop for last year's academic year stemming from the last parliamentary term.
"We should see improvements over the coming years with the huge investment the Scottish Government is making in our universities over this parliament from this new academic year onwards. In fact in Europe, Scotland is one of only a few countries that are investing in higher education.
"There are many ways to measure universities' quality, with THE World Rankings just one of many. On many other measures, and many other league tables, Scottish universities continue to improve and continue to perform excellently.
"There's lots of ways to measure success. To argue somehow that this shows tuition fees as the solution doesn't hold up to any kind of scrutiny. In England where fees have trebled to £9000 a year, universities have dropped just as far if not further.
"Equally, the Scottish Government is investing hundreds of millions of pounds into our universities over the next few years which will see funding in Scotland at least match, if not be funded higher than counterparts in the rest of the UK.
"Tuition fees are dead and buried. 87% of the Scottish Parliament pledged to rule out tuition fees, and it's clearly the settled will of the people of Scotland to ensure we don't charge for any part of our education system. There is no evidence that tuition fees in England are improving their rankings.
"Tuition fees are discredited, they make learning and teaching more about money than ability or talent, and allow the market to completely undermine academic autonomy.
"Tuition fees distribute places away from the poorest students, to the richest, threatening the quality of our students and graduates.
"The truth is Scotland has a hugely successful, and a very high quality university sector. However you measure it Scotland punches way above our weight and we've built that world-class university sector because of a fee-free education, not despite it."