Oxford has been named one of the 10 ‘Micro European Cities’ of the future.

Foreign investment publication fDi magazine ranked European cities on their potential to capture future investment and expansion projects.

Oxford was ranked No 1 for human resources, and within the top 10 micro cities for quality of life.

The city also joined Oslo, London, Copenhagen and Bilbao with a score of nine out of 10 for proportion of labour force with a degree-level education.

Dr Martin Dare Edwards, chairman of the Oxfordshire Local Enterprise Partnership, said: “Oxford and its wider county is undoubtedly one of the world’s best city regions for investment in high-value-adding business, also benefiting from its excellent and improving transport connectivity, and exceptional quality of life.

“This recognition provides a superb opportunity for the city and county to further enhance its profile to inward investors."”

Courtney Fingar, editor of fDi Magazine, added: “fDi’s rankings reveal the cities and regions that stand the best chance of capturing future investment and expansion projects by multinational companies, something that will become even more important should Europe and the world head into recession.”

In fDi’s ranking of the top 25 European cities overall, London came out top, followed by Paris, Vienna, Moscow and Reading.

Oxford was rated ninth among the top 10 micro cities for quality of life, with Monaco top and Luxembourg second.