Every university in Britain ranked from best to worst

Are Oxford and Cambridge really better than every other British university? How do the likes of Leeds, Manchester and Bristol compare? And what about up-and-coming institutions such as the University of Leicester?

Today, we publish The Mail University Guide rankings for 2025 - and there are some big surprises in the results. Our guide is the most comprehensive, broadly based, in-depth analysis of the UK's leading universities you'll find.

The Mail ranking is based on recent performance data in areas such as teaching and research, as well as the views of the 346,000 final-year students. Plus, we've crunched the numbers to identify universities where students stand the best chance of getting a high-skilled job when they graduate, the salaries they will earn (useful for paying off that student loan) and whether they feel, 15 months after leaving, that their careers are on track.

As well as today's article showcasing the full rankings (see below), Mail+ subscribers can access The Mail University Guide where there is a wealth of further information and reading as well as our exclusive University Finder tool.

Here, you can search all the UK's leading universities and personalise the results according to the factors YOU value most - even including criteria such as accommodation cost and university size.

And for the first time this year, you can use the University Finder to show which universities are ranked highest for the subject you want to study. We've assessed universities across 78 of the most popular subjects, based on the key factors that will shape your time at university.

Read the full list below or click here to launch our interactive University Finder - and personalise the rankings to find the university best suited to you. Plus, search the best universities by subject 

1. Imperial College London





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Imperial retains its place at the head of our university ranking for a second year, pulling further clear of Oxford and Cambridge. In the past 12 months, it has also become the top-ranked British institution (and second globally) in the 2025 edition of the QS World University Rankings. Imperial recruits the best students from around the world in science, technology, engineering, mathematics, medicine and business (or STEMMB as it likes to call it). We named it University of the Year last year off the back of its rankings success, but the wider reasons for the award remain as true today as they were 12 months ago. These include the university's strong social conscience. It takes widening access seriously, with one of the most progressive bursary programmes in the UK. It also makes reduced offers to students who qualify under its contextual admissions criteria, which have been beefed up this year. The university is based in South Kensington, on a campus adjacent to the capital's museum district, and has nine other sites around the capital. Imperial's graduates are in demand, with more going into highly skilled jobs than those from any other university, and commanding the highest salaries, too. 

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2. University of Oxford





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The social demographic of Oxford is changing after a concerted effort to open up the university to a wider range of students. In 2023, 68% of the UK undergraduate intake were educated in state schools, 21.2% came from the most disadvantaged backgrounds, 7.6% had qualified for free school meals and more than a quarter were black, Asian or from other minority ethnicities. Oxford's determination to diversify its intake has not led to any compromises in its desire to recruit only the brightest, however. Most of the 23,000 or so who apply each year will go on to achieve at least AAA at A-level, but the university prides itself on the fitness of its admissions process (featuring examinations and interviews) to identify the students that will truly fly here. Academic life revolves around weekly tutorials, which take place individually or in small groups in college. There are 32 undergraduate colleges spanning the ancient and modern, big and small, traditional and relaxed, and not all subjects are available in each. Expressing no college preference in your application is also an option. But be quick. A deadline of October 15 is just another way in which Oxford sets itself apart from the crowd. 

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3. University of Cambridge





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The scrapping of state school admissions targets at Cambridge, announced earlier this year, is not a sign that the university no longer cares about fairness in its entry processes. Instead, it is evidence of the success of its policies over the past decade, which have gone a long way to eradicating the dominance of private schools, with 72.9% state school admissions in 2022. Based on the words of new vice-chancellor, Professor Deborah Prentice, regional disparities in admissions may be addressed next. Last September, 52.5% of undergraduates came from London and the South East, while 1.8% came from the North East and 5% from Yorkshire. Application numbers are stable, with around six applications for each place. The minimum A-level offers range from A*A*A to A*AA, in contrast to Oxford, which puts more store by its admissions tests and makes many offers at 'just' AAA. There are 29 undergraduate colleges to choose from, and it pays to visit before applying to see where you might best fit in. Not all are chocolate-box pretty, and not all are bang in the middle of the city centre. Applications close on October 15.

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4. London School of Economics and Political Science





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There are now almost 15 applications for every place at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), after a year which saw the second-highest rate of applications on record but 270 fewer students admitted. Most of the impact of that drop was felt by UK students - an indication not just of the present funding crisis in higher education (universities earn far more money from overseas students) but also of the global marketplace in which LSE recruits. A place at LSE is coveted the world over, such is its pre-eminence in politics, economics, business and the social sciences. Students come from a wider range of backgrounds than in most elite Russell Group universities - the product of a consistent mission to widen access to its courses. One third of offers made to UK students last year were discounted contextual offers taking account of social or educational disadvantage. With just over 40 undergraduate degree programmes, LSE offers a tight portfolio of subjects. Situated in central London, and close to the theatres, museums and retail distractions, students have plenty to do when they are not studying hard. Graduates are well paid and hugely in demand. 

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5. University College London





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Now fully open, UCL East gives University College London a second Smart home to go alongside its long-standing base in Bloomsbury, central London. Located within the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, UCL East is part of the trendy East Bank cultural and educational legacy of London 2012. With 54% of admissions last year drawn from abroad, no other university recruits undergraduates from overseas on a larger scale. UCL was founded in 1826 and, as it approaches its bicentenary, it remains true to its founding principle of equality in all things, providing £11.7m in financial support to around 30% of the intake last year, while around one in six gained a place via a contextual offer. There is academic strength across all disciplines and its free-thinking graduates are in demand - the latest High Fliers report found UCL was targeted by more top employers than any other London university. That legendary free-thinking will be in evidence in court in 2026 when around 5,000 current and former students take landmark legal action against the university over Covid and strike-related disruption to their degrees. Many other universities will be watching from behind the sofa.

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6. University of Warwick





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Shortlisted for our University of the Year title, Warwick turns out graduates who are among the most sought-after; the university sits sixth in this year's High Fliers ranking of universities targeted by the largest number of leading graduate employers, ahead of both Oxford and Cambridge. The university celebrates its 60th anniversary next year with applications running at record levels - 58% higher than a decade ago - and admissions are at a level beaten only during the pandemic years of inflated grades. The university recruits nationally and globally, and it is one of the institutions that mops up students who miss out on Oxbridge. The spacious campus university sits not in Warwick, but on the outskirts of Coventry. Academic, sporting, social and residential facilities are all close to hand. The Warwick Arts Centre, which has five spaces for theatre and music, three cinemas and a gallery, is one of the biggest outside London. Sporting facilities are excellent, too, and Warwick is a serious player in inter-university competitions. Academic strength spans the arts, humanities and languages, as well as the social sciences, science and engineering. The recent triple gold award from the Teaching Excellence Framework for overall rating, student experience and student outcomes speaks to that broad-based brilliance.

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7. University of St Andrews





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St Andrews, our University of the Year for Student Experience, has established itself as an alternative to Oxford and Cambridge over the past two decades, going toe-to-toe with the UK's two most famous universities. It has topped more domestic university rankings than either Oxford or Cambridge in the past three years, its success built on an unrivalled record for student satisfaction with teaching quality, support and their overall university experience. St Andrews tops our analysis of the student experience scores in this year's National Student Survey. The university proves that it is possible to meet the high expectations of demanding, well-qualified students, measured in the National Student Survey, when many rivals in the Russell Group come up woefully short. It also has a growing reputation in key areas of research with global impact. Academic excellence spans all four faculties - arts, divinity, medicine and science -  leading to fierce competition for places. The attractiveness of St Andrews extends to its location. Perched on a rocky outcrop on the east coast of Fife, St Andrews is a small, pretty town where it is impossible to discern where the town ends and the university begins. Students make up more than half the population. When not studying, you can lower your golf handicap or run along the stunning beach that featured in the iconic movie, Chariots Of Fire.

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8. University of Strathclyde





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Strathclyde, winner of our Scottish University of the Year award last year and runner-up to Imperial College London for the UK title, is an outstanding university with a stellar record for graduate employment, particularly in areas where there is a national shortage of able graduates. It is an engineering powerhouse and one of the UK's leading technological universities. It is also socially progressive, admitting by both headcount and proportion more students from the 20% of Scottish postcodes considered to be the most deprived than at any other highly selective university in Scotland. More than 225 years after its establishment, it remains the 'place of useful learning' envisaged by its posthumous founder, John Anderson. Across all four faculties - engineering, humanities and social sciences, science and the Strathclyde Business School - industry and business routinely have input on course structure and programme delivery, with many of those companies offering placements to students. The university's commitment to preparing students for the world of work extends to embracing apprenticeships. A total of 650 learners are engaged in six graduate apprenticeship programmes in Scotland, working with 200 employers, and a further 100 learners are enrolled on five degree apprenticeships, working with 46 employers based in England.

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9. University of Bath





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Founded in the 1960s, Bath's modern hillside campus sits above the Georgian city, and is renowned for science, engineering, business and its outstanding sports facilities. Team Bath is one of the big hitters in the university sports leagues and home to many national and international-standard athletes, who can combine their studies with top-class training. The university saw a record number of applications and admissions in 2023, with 4,750 students enrolling through Ucas - an almost 7% rise on the year before. Bath is hugely popular with graduate employers, too, and our University of the Year for Graduate Jobs award last year acknowledged this. Graduates command some of the highest starting salaries of any university. Bath works hard to integrate students from all walks of life. The 50 annual recipients of the Gold scholarship, who come from under-represented and low-income backgrounds, have the option of receiving mentoring, training in personal development, networking and skills, and support with securing placements and internships. They also take part in 50 hours of volunteering, fundraising or outreach work. 

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10= University of Dundee





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Dundee is one of the powerhouses of Scottish higher education and our Scottish University of the Year. It is now one of three Scottish universities to be ranked in our UK top 10. The university has a formidable reputation in medicine, biomedicine and the life sciences and plays a key role in the economy of its home city and turns out high-calibre graduates ready to make an impact. It is estimated that the university supports one in 12 jobs in the wider city. Occupying a central campus in Dundee, the university has further outposts at Ninewells Hospital (the medical school) and Kirkcaldy, 30 miles away in Fife, which is home to some of its nursing and midwifery provision. Scores in this year's National Student Survey have recovered after a few lean years, with students scoring teaching quality particularly highly. However, applications fell by more than 10% for admission in September 2023. Against this background, the university created an education academy last year to put delivering an outstanding education and student experience front and centre. Among its objectives are carrying out a review of student services, further embedding employability and enterprise in degree programmes, and developing Dundee's digital campus.

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10= University of Sheffield





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Shortlisted for our University of the Year award this year and once again the top-ranked university in northern England, Sheffield has seen record numbers of applications for four successive years. Further evidence of its calibre and popularity was provided by this year's Whatuni Student Choice Awards, which saw it crowned University of the Year and voted best for student life by its own students. It was named as our University of the Year for Student Experience this time last year, based on its excellent results in the National Student Survey. A growing contextual offers scheme cuts two or three grades from the standard offer for most courses for students from under-represented groups, bringing the university within reach for a more diverse student population than you find at most other Russell Group universities. The university is a melting pot, recruiting from across the UK, and one in five undergraduates are recruited from overseas. Students are attracted not just by the university's fine reputation and facilities; they also love the city and the surrounding area, and many choose to settle here after graduating. Sheffield has all-round academic strength, but its engineering, materials science and medicine courses are especially highly regarded. Students can draw on the university's careers and employability support services for as long as they need after graduating. 

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St George's, University of London





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From August 1, the UK's only specialist medicine and healthcare university became one half of the new City St George's, University of London 'health powerhouse' following a merger with City, University of London. The new institution wins our University of the Year for Graduate Jobs award, based on its previous success in student outcomes across medicine, healthcare and the professions. It is also runner-up for UK University of the Year, in part for the potential that the union offers. The merger brings together two institutions with a significant and complementary presence in medicine and healthcare, while at the same time adding City's general education of professionals into the mix. It creates a university that spans both multiple disciplines and the capital itself, which is expected to prove a significant draw to applicants going forward. It hopes to bring its critical mass to bear on tackling the policy, treatment and research issues facing the NHS. Based in Tooting, south London, St George's is best known for medical training, but for many years it has also offered an extensive range of health-related courses, encompassing biomedical science, clinical pharmacology, diagnostic radiography, healthcare science, occupational therapy, paramedic science, physiotherapy, and radiotherapy and oncology. St George's attracts a diverse intake, with more than two-thirds of those admitted drawn from ethnic minorities and around one-third are mature returners to education.

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King's College London





Overview

King's is investing £45.5m in hiring new staff, creating new interdisciplinary research centres and building new infrastructure to expand its science education offering and leverage the university's breadth of expertise across the arts, law, technology and engineering. The aim is to enhance teaching and drive research breakthroughs. King's is one of the UK academic powerhouses, with excellence across all disciplines and one of the largest concentrations of medical and healthcare provision at any university, encompassing three of London's largest teaching hospitals in Guy's, St Thomas's and King's College Hospital. The number of applications in the past two years is higher than at any time in the long history of the university. Just under 7,000 undergraduates were admitted last year as competition for places moved above 10:1, with more than 40% of them recruited from overseas. However, the university works hard to remain accessible to all. It has one of the best records for social inclusion of any Russell Group institution, with a shade under 40% of all students being the first in their immediate family to go to university.

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Loughborough University





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There are brains to go with the brawn at Loughborough, our Sports University of the Year. Famed for its sporting prowess, the university is also one of the country's academic powerhouses, exemplified by the recent success of alumnus Charlie Dobson, the Team GB athlete who took silver in the 400m at the European Athletics Championships in Rome in June. He graduated with a first class degree in aeronautical engineering in 2023. Loughborough-connected Olympians went on to achieve 16 medals in Paris this summer (four gold, four silver and eight bronze) which would have ranked the university 16th in the global medal table, ahead of countries like Sweden, Kenya and Ireland. Loughborough has the best university sports facilities this side of the Atlantic. They're so good that several sports - athletics, swimming, triathlon, cricket, weightlifting and netball - have their national headquarters onsite. Its students have won the inter-university British Universities and Colleges Sport (Bucs) title for 43 consecutive years. But the university also sits in or just outside the top 10 in all the major domestic rankings for academia, too. It tops the QS world ranking for sports-related subjects, and its design school is one of the best in the UK. For many years, Loughborough has aced the National Student Survey, the results confirming that its students love life on its 523-acre campus. When they leave, they are hugely in demand, earning some of the highest graduate salaries anywhere.

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University of Birmingham





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Birmingham is one of the biggest and most popular universities in the country. That doesn't make it impersonal, however. Unlike some other universities on this scale, Birmingham seeks to make offer holders feel part of the university from the outset. This year, to boost the number of firm acceptances of places, it reduced its asking rate across all subjects by one A-level grade to offer-holders. The strategy seems to be working, with last year's 7,040 admissions through Ucas beaten only in the grade-inflated pandemic years. Competition to get an offer is stiff, though, with eight applications for every place. One of the original redbrick universities - so called because of the materials used in the principal buildings which date from the early 20th century- the university is located in the affluent suburb of Edgbaston, a seven-minute train ride from the city centre. The campus has been heavily invested in recently, too. It is a member of the Russell Group of leading, research-intensive universities, and sits behind only Manchester and Nottingham in the latest High Fliers research into the universities most targeted by top employers.

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Durham University





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Durham is the darling of the independent school sector, taking comfortably the highest proportion of privately educated students of any British university. But it is working hard to dispel its elitist image, offering some of the most generous bursaries and scholarships, and steadily widening participation. 'The Durham difference' is not just an old marketing handle for the university, but a reflection of its unique constitution. It is collegiate like Oxford and Cambridge, but the 16 undergraduate colleges are essentially social groupings rather than academic ones. Colleges are split between the Bailey (the older ones in the streets around the cathedral and castle) and the Hill (just to the south of the city centre, where the newer colleges have sprouted up). Durham Castle itself is home to University College, the oldest college, which is the most popular with applicants. This is closely followed by Collingwood, a Hill college that has benefited from significant philanthropic investment in its social and sports facilities. Durham's all-round academic strengths span the arts, sciences and social sciences. 

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Queen Mary University of London





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Queen Mary is the most socially inclusive of the research-intensive Russell Group universities by some distance. It recruits heavily from within London (more than 70% of last year's UK undergraduate intake) where participation in higher education is the highest, and yet manages to attract almost half of its students from homes where neither parent attended university. Two thirds of the intake were from Asian, black or mixed-race families and just 7.5% were educated privately. The financial aid offered is significant in both sum and reach, the university has a strong mental health and wellbeing support structure, and it offers mentoring from current students and alumni - all in acknowledgement of the additional challenges many students might face coming from groups traditionally under-represented on campus. Applications were the second highest on record in 2023. The main Mile End campus lies in a trendy part of the capital with an excellent social scene, and there are top-notch sporting facilities onsite and in the nearby Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park. The well-regarded medical and dentistry school is a short distance away near the Royal London Hospital in Whitechapel, with a second outpost in West Smithfield at Barts hospital.

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University of Bristol





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Bristol is doing its bit to tear down barriers that have prevented disadvantaged children from attending elite universities. It was one of the first universities to embrace contextual offers - one quarter of Bristol's entrants held one last year - and it is extending its bursary scheme to include all students from homes with less than £50,000 income. It is a member of the Russell Group of research-led universities, which are among the hardest to get into. Not that this puts anyone off. Applications hit a record high last year at more than 61,000, while just under 7,000 students were admitted. The university recruits almost half of its UK students from London and the south-east, who are drawn by its excellent reputation and good links to the rest of the UK. The university has centres of excellence across the arts and sciences, with chemistry of particular note and artificial intelligence an increasingly influential area of activity. The latest High Fliers survey found that Bristol was the fifth most targeted university among leading graduate employers, too.

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University of Surrey





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Surrey has upped its game in the past decade to become one of the leading 1960s universities. It now has the rare distinction of having both a veterinary school - opened in 2015, and one of only 11 in the country - and a new medical school. These jewels follow in the footsteps of other, older gems such as the Surrey Space Centre, which was founded in 1979. It has since become a leading global centre of excellence for space engineering and one of the pioneers of small satellite technology. The university is located on two campuses - Stag Hill and Manor Park - a short distance from the centre of Guildford. Despite its leafy, stockbroker-belt location, the university offers the cheapest student accommodation in the country, with more than 200 rooms at just £3,002 for a 38-week let. This is of huge benefit to a surprisingly diverse student population; four in 10 of last year's intake are the first in their immediate family to go to university. An outstanding graduate jobs record, which sees around 82% of students land high-skilled jobs on well-above-average salaries, is fostered by a flourishing placement programme with more than 2,300 national and international partners.

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University of Southampton





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Applications for this research-intensive Russell Group university crested 45,000 for the first time last year. It works hard to make courses with mostly high entry requirements available to a wider audience, with a contextual offer scheme reducing the standard ask by up to two grades across all courses. Assessors for last year's Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF) praised the university's Ignite Your Success programme as 'outstanding'. The scheme provides academic and career opportunities and financial support for students from under-represented groups. The wider TEF result of three silver awards for overall rating, student experience and student outcomes was somewhat less than the university would have hoped for. It is based on several sites across Southampton, with the main Highfield campus being the most attractive. The university is a true academic all-rounder, but the National Oceanography Centre on its Waterfront campus is a notable gem. It is home to the school of ocean and earth science, which has a coral reef laboratory for testing environmental effects on reefs in a controlled setting, as well as a research vessel. Southampton's reach extends into nearby Winchester, which is home to the university's art school.

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University of Glasgow





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Glasgow is the most Scottish of the big three universities in Scotland, with four in every five UK students recruited from north of the border, much more than at Edinburgh and St Andrews. But just under one quarter of last year's intake were international students, drawn by Glasgow's global excellence as a research-intensive Russell Group university with a history going back nearly 600 years. While some of the university's civic architecture betrays its long history, it is getting more modern by the year thanks to a £1bn decade-long investment programme. This month's intake of students should be the first to use the new Clarice Pears Building, which brings the School of Health & Wellbeing together on one site. The main Gilmorehill campus is in Glasgow's fashionable West End, but there is a further campus at Garscube, about four miles away, which is home to outdoor sports facilities, veterinary medicine students and the catered Wolfson Hall student accommodation. In Dumfries, the university teaches social and environmental sustainability, as well as its primary education with teaching qualification.

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University of Aberdeen





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Britain's most northerly university is among the most prestigious. Founded as King's College in 1495, it mixes historic, creeper-clad buildings at the heart of the old city with striking, modern facilities elsewhere. Students are based on one of two central campuses - the modern Foresterhill for life sciences and medicine, and Old Aberdeen for arts, social sciences and physical sciences. Aberdeen's excellent air and rail connections ensure a strong national and international student presence, with more than 130 nationalities represented, despite the university's relative remoteness. Applications have been falling in recent times, however, with 16,525 seeking places through Ucas for admission last September - the lowest number in the past decade and 10% down on the year before. There are more than 400 degree options, including courses that serve the Scottish economy, such as mechanical engineering with oil and gas studies, and more unusual combinations, such as law with options in music. One in 10 students are eligible for contextual reduced grades offers under widening access criteria.

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Queen's University, Belfast





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Queen's University Belfast is enjoying record popularity. A whisker under 30,000 applications were made for courses beginning in September 2023 - a new high - and the near-5,000 enrolments was also a record outside of the pandemic years when admissions were distorted by teacher-assessed grades. The student population is far more diverse now than during The Troubles. Last year, 13% of the intake came from overseas, and of the home recruits, 10% now come from beyond Belfast Lough. Hillary Clinton has been chancellor since 2020, a symbol of the international mindset that now pervades the university. Queen's is a member of the Russell Group of research-intensive universities and commands top grades from an intake educated predominantly in Northern Ireland's selective grammar schools. However, there is good social diversity on campus, with 30% of students qualifying for means-tested financial support. Academic excellence spans medicine and healthcare, science, computing and engineering, the social sciences, humanities and the arts. The attractive university district lies in the south of Belfast, close to the city's Botanic Gardens and a host of university-run venues open to the public, including a theatre, gallery and an art-house cinema. The thriving city centre is a short bus ride away. 

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Aston University





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Aston, which has been a university since 1966, achieves the rare feat of being socially inclusive in its intake, while having a high completion rate and achieving well in the graduate jobs market. It is our University of the Year for Student Success in recognition of this. Making its debut this year after opting out of our inaugural guide last year, it performs strongly in our ranking, which is the only one to measure social inclusion alongside teaching, research and graduate outcomes. Last year it secured triple gold in the Teaching Excellence Framework covering student experience, graduate outcomes and an overall rating, and a near 14% increase in enrolments took recruitment to a new high. More than half the students are the first in their immediate family to go to university and 82% are from ethnic minorities. After Aston secured second place in a recent social mobility ranking of English universities, Professor Aleks Subic, Aston's vice-chancellor, said: 'We have proved that it is possible to be an inclusive university that delivers impressive graduate outcomes, regardless of a student's starting point or social capital.' It's hard to disagree.

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University of Leeds





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Despite recent poor results in the National Student Survey, Leeds remains one of the most popular universities in the country, fielding nearly 70,000 applications last year. It occupies a 100-acre campus a short walk from the city centre. The university's green spaces and modern buildings are interwoven with Victorian grandeur and 1960s brutalism, giving the campus a definite charm. Leeds has shifted back to a focus on face-to-face learning post-pandemic, and its careers service has a great record of supporting students from under-represented backgrounds. Performance is strong when it comes to students achieving good degree classifications and alumni going on to secure high-skilled jobs, all while the university consciously focuses on its renowned Access to Leeds initiative to widen participation. Of last year's intake, around 25% of students received a contextual offer - many courtesy of this scheme. Leeds has a range of both catered and non-catered rooms available and guarantees an offer of accommodation to all first-year students.

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University of Liverpool





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Liverpool aims to be a world top 100 university in time for its 150th anniversary in 2031. It will achieve this, in part at least, by improving levels of student satisfaction, securing even better graduate outcomes, increasing research income and hitting sustainability targets. It is a member of the Russell Group of research-intensive universities and has better levels of social diversity on campus than many others in the group. It occupies a city centre site and, with Liverpool John Moores University next door, a large district of central Liverpool is effectively a glorified university precinct. The popular medical school within the Royal Liverpool University Hospital borders one side of this district. Dentistry, veterinary medicine, nursing, architecture and engineering are among the subject areas for which the university is best known. Applications hit a record for the second successive year in 2023 and the total of 6,500 admissions has been topped only once. The university recruits across the UK, with London, the South East, West Midlands and Yorkshire each contributing between 500 and 600 undergraduates. Just over one third of the intake comes from the North West. 

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City, University of London





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City St George's, University of London officially came into being on August 1, bringing together two previously separate members of the University of London federation - City and St George's. The now-united university is our University of the Year for Graduate Jobs and is runner-up for the overall University of the Year award. It has asked to be listed separately in this edition of our guide, however, as City and St George's will continue to handle admissions separately for the upcoming September 2025 recruitment cycle. It is in the field of healthcare that the two institutions have considerable shared and complementary experience, but the provision that made the now former City University distinctive will remain in the merged organisation. City has long positioned itself as the university of business, practice and the professions - a marketing handle based around its 200 career-focused degree options, from business management and law to media and communications. Four in five students progress into highly skilled jobs, putting City among the top performers. The merger with St George's comes as City surfs a wave of popularity, with applications last year topping 30,000 for the first time. 

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University of Manchester





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The popularity of the University of Manchester continues to grow with each passing year. Applications hit a new record (93,450) for admission in September 2023 and are now running 44% higher than they were just six years ago. With nearly 10,000 undergraduates gaining places each year, and more than 45,000 students overall, this is higher education on a vast scale. The recent introduction of 12 student support hubs is an attempt to put a human face on the academic machine. 'Our students asked us to... provide clearer, consolidated and more consistent student support services delivered by trained specialists,' the university told us. This might go some way towards addressing the consistently poor student satisfaction scores registered in the National Student Survey. Those scores have had no impact on the university's popularity with applicants, however. They focus more on the formidable academic reputation of this Russell Group university and the lure of the city of Manchester itself, famed for its nightlife, cultural attractions and the sheer volume of students. The campuses of the University of Manchester, Manchester Metropolitan University and the University of Salford adjoin one other, creating a central student district of more than 100,000 students. 

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University of East Anglia





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The University of East Anglia (UEA) is one of the leading lights among the 1960s generation of universities, with a national and international reputation for everything from creative writing to climate change degrees. It has just celebrated its 60th birthday under something of a cloud, labouring under a £74m deficit to July 2022. However, a new year of accounts shows a small surplus after a big cut in staff costs, and the university is building for the future with this year's launch of 42 courses with a placement year, year abroad or foundation year added to broaden their appeal, with another 33 programmes rostered for September 2025. The university recruits almost 90% of its socially mixed student population from East Anglia, London and the South East to its parkland campus on the outskirts of Norwich. It's spacious and dotted with listed buildings, including the iconic Lasdun Wall, and is also home to the Norman Foster- designed Sainsbury Centre, which houses one of the best art collections in the country. UEA's Sportspark provides outstanding facilities for athletes of all abilities.

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University of Edinburgh





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Edinburgh is one of the destinations in British higher education, with only the University of Manchester attracting more applications. You will need sharp elbows to win a place, with every seat in the lecture theatre coveted by more than 10 prospective students. Its appeal is global, with international students making up one third of undergraduate admissions last year. The combination of a cosmopolitan student body, a stylish city playground and a reputation for teaching and research excellence is a winning formula. Only the consistently poor results in the annual National Student Survey stop the university from ranking in our UK top 10. International rankings, such as the 2025 edition from QS, place Edinburgh 27th in the world (two places higher than we do) on pretty much academic measures alone. And it is not hard to see why. Academics at Edinburgh are constantly rolling back the boundaries of knowledge. Remember Dolly the Sheep? Think also the supercomputer Archer2, which lives here. The university was identified as the preferred location for the UK's first next-generation exascale supercomputer, which would have been one of just a handful in the world and 50 times faster than any of our existing machines, but the project was cancelled by the new government in Westminster due to lack of cash.

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University of Leicester





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Overview

Leicester, our University of the Year, makes a strong case to be the model university for the 21st century. Strong in teaching. Strong in research. Strong in social inclusion. Three of the key components of our innovative ranking. But don't just take our word for it. The official assessment of teaching quality provided by the Teaching Excellence Framework saw Leicester achieve an overall gold rating last December. And the most recent official assessment of research quality, the Research Excellence Framework, published in 2021, ranked Leicester 29th in the UK in our analysis of the outcomes. The university reflects Leicester itself, which is one of the most socially and ethnically diverse cities in the UK. Asian, black and white students are in almost equal balance on campus, making up 32.4%, 26.2% and 31.3% of admissions respectively in September 2023. Appropriate support structures have been put in place to ensure that all students - and particularly those from under-represented backgrounds - succeed. Applications and admissions are at a record high. The secret is out: Leicester is one of the best catches of the British higher education system - a top-flight university, respected by employers, which makes reasonable offers within the reach of most students. 

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Heriot-Watt University





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Overview

Heriot-Watt University (HWU) specialises in degrees in science, engineering, technology, business and design - and has a first-rate record for its graduates securing well-paid, high-skilled jobs once they leave. It is one of the UK's top performers in our graduate jobs metrics and other surveys are similarly complimentary. An analysis of UK universities conducted last year by Novuna showed Heriot-Watt had the highest proportion of graduates of any Scottish university in chief executive or managing director roles. The university began life more than 200 years ago as a mechanics' institute, so the accent here has always been on real-world, careers-focused education. The decision to make its Riccarton campus the home of the new National Robotarium, a partnership with the University of Edinburgh which will explore the practical applications of robotics on everyday life, is no coincidence. Around one in six UK students is recruited from outside Scotland - a more mixed UK recruitment pattern than at many Scottish institutions. Most are based at the main Riccarton campus on the western edge of Edinburgh. There are smaller outposts in Galashiels, where fashion, textiles and design courses are based, and Orkney, home to three postgraduate MScs in marine science and renewable energy, as well as the International Centre for Island Technology. 

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University of Nottingham





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Overview

Nottingham is a member of the prestigious Russell Group, has a highly respected medical school and strength right across the academic disciplines, and has built a formidable name for itself on university sports pitches. It recruits from across the UK and competition for places is fierce. In light of the university's stiff entry requirements, the student population is notably mixed, with good representation from ethnic minorities (around one third of last year's intake) and non-selective state schools (around two thirds). Centred on University Park, a 300-acre green lung at the heart of Nottingham, it has impressive facilities in a mixture of period and modern buildings. A short distance away, the Jubilee campus is home to the business school, the schools of education and computer science, and the Nottingham Innovation Park. Following the murder last year of Barney Webber and Grace O'Malley-Kumar, two first-year students who were stabbed while on their way home from an end-of-term party, work was completed earlier this year on a memorial woodland walk on the University Park campus to commemorate all students who have lost their lives.

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Cardiff University





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Overview

Cardiff is enjoying a 'moment'. Applications hit a new high in September 2023, and admissions soared to a level surpassed only during the pandemic when numbers were skewed by the increase in top A-level results. Just under 8,000 students gained a place, up from around 6,000 a decade ago. Cardiff is the biggest university in Wales and the only one to be a member of the elite Russell Group. It prides itself on being among the more socially inclusive in that group; one third of entrants are the first in their immediate family to go to university, and four in five students were educated at non-selective state schools. The university occupies two campuses: Cathays Park in the city centre, and the more modern Heath Park a mile away, which is home to healthcare-related courses and the University Hospital of Wales, where the medical school is located. With three universities in the Welsh capital, there is no shortage of student nightlife and discounts. Cardiff ranked second in last year's NatWest Student Living Index, a guide to the most affordable UK cities for students. 

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University of Exeter





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Overview

Being named Higher Education Institution of the Year in 2023 by the National Education Opportunities Network for its work in widening access to university confounds the traditional green wellies and VW Golf GTi image of Exeter students in popular culture. In fact, almost one in four students entered the university last September holding a contextual offer, which undercuts standard offers by two or three A-level grades in recognition of disadvantage. Places on some of the university's most popular programmes are ring-fenced for students who meet its widening participation criteria. There are also 3,000 degree apprentices, who split their time between paid work and study, more than at any other Russell Group university. Privately educated students make up just under 30% of the intake, and Exeter has undoubtedly attracted a chunk of those students who have been displaced by the recent change in admissions policies at Oxbridge. The main Streatham campus in Exeter - one of the UK's most beautiful - is home to the majority of students. There are smaller outposts at nearby St Luke's, which is home to its medical school, and at Penryn in Cornwall, on a campus shared with Falmouth University. 

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University of York





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York wears its commitment to social justice on its sleeve. It was the first Russell Group university to sign the Social Mobility Pledge and, while competition for places is tough, a contextual admissions programme open only to state-educated applicants helps generate a more diverse student population than in many universities of a similar standing. York may have just celebrated its 60th birthday, but it has a spring in its step courtesy of three successive years of record applications. Students are drawn pretty evenly from across the UK, and one in eight undergraduates was recruited from overseas last year. Unlike many of its 1960s peers, everything at York is low-rise across two campuses on the outskirts of the city. The university is organised into 11 colleges, which are social and residential groupings rather than academic ones. These help break the institution into bite-sized student communities, while creating tribal loyalties. Recent gold award assessments under the Teaching Excellence Framework for student experience, student outcomes and the overall rating made rather better reading than this year's National Student Survey outcomes, which once again hold York back in our ranking.

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Lancaster University





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Lancaster sits on a modern campus on the edge of this pretty city. It is one of the leading lights among the 1960s generation of universities and has built a supportive, cohesive student environment around a collegiate structure. Barely 3% of first-years fail to progress on to year two of their degrees. High levels of student satisfaction are fostered within the eight undergraduate colleges (and one other for postgraduates), which are social rather than academic groupings. Lancaster recruits on a national and international stage, its students drawn by its all-round excellence. Subject strengths range from medicine, engineering and the sciences through to social work, English, drama and creative writing. The Lancaster University Management School is also highly rated. The university is investing heavily to boost its already outstanding reputation in cybersecurity, recruiting 33 academics and 15 professors in practice roles as part of the £19m Security and Protection Science initiative. The Bailrigg campus provides a lively arts and social scene, and there are high levels of participation in sport. When it all gets too much, the Lake District is on the doorstep for wandering lonely as a cloud.

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Swansea University





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Overview

Swansea's seafront location, together with its excellent academic pedigree, are key selling points for applicants - with the former so good that the university uses it in advertisements on the sides of London buses. The university's Singleton Park campus has been joined in recent years by the Bay campus, and both front onto the beach at Swansea Bay. It attracts a UK-wide clientele, with fewer than half of last year's home intake recruited from Wales. There is a strong international contingent here, too. The university is organised into three faculties - humanities and social sciences; medicine, health and life science; and science and engineering - and has a broad portfolio of courses that includes a graduate-entry medicine degree. Strength in engineering and medicine is balanced by success in the arts and culture. All UK applicants whose predicted grades fall within the offer range for a given course (with the exception of medicine, healthcare and social work) are guaranteed a conditional offer. Outstanding sports facilities, which are a further draw for those with brawn to go alongside brains, sustain a consistently high ranking in the British Universities and Colleges Sport (Bucs) inter-university rankings.

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Ulster University





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Overview

Ulster celebrates 40 years as a university this year, forging in that time a strong reputation for widening access to higher education. It defines its commitment to social mobility as working 'to ensure that personal backgrounds do not determine future prospects'. A shortlisting for our University of the Year award last year recognised this work and the institution's role in regenerating the multiple towns and cities in which it is based. There are three campuses in Belfast, Coleraine and Londonderry, with the university's sports village in Jordanstown, seven miles outside Belfast. All have been the subject of heavy investment recently, and more improvements are in the pipeline. The university serves a predominantly Northern Irish student population, who make up 99% of the British intake. Just under half of them are the first in their immediate family to go to university. Recent developments such as Ulster's hugely expanded presence in Belfast - where it has a campus in the Cathedral Quarter - have helped push applications to a level topped just once before, with almost 34,000 applications for a place last year. Many undergraduate courses have transferred to Belfast from Jordanstown, where planning permission has been granted for a £10m sports facility.

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Glasgow Caledonian University





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Overview

Glasgow Caledonian University (GCU) is the top-ranked modern university in our league table and our Modern University of the Year. It markets itself as the 'University for the Common Good' based on its founding mission to be for 'the common weal' - and it achieves its objectives in some style. GCU has consistently pursued policies geared to academic excellence, social justice and producing graduates who have a better record in gaining high-skilled jobs than those from many Russell Group universities. It caters for a predominantly Scottish intake (98.6% of all UK students recruited in 2023), with more than one in five recruited from postcodes among the 20% most deprived in Scotland. GCU is one of the biggest providers of health, social care and life sciences graduates for the NHS, produces more building and surveying graduates than any other university in the UK, and is the only university to offer a full suite of optometry degrees. It is also Scotland's largest provider of graduate apprenticeships, with more than 700 learners on campus.

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Newcastle University





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Overview

Newcastle is one of the more popular destinations on the higher education map. The university is a founding member of the Russell Group of research-intensive universities able to attract the most academically gifted students. The university is very popular with the privately educated, who make up more than one in five entrants, and it recruits strongly from across the UK. Students from the North East made up just 22.6% of last year's intake - not so far ahead of the 17.1% who came from London and the South East. The Royal Victoria Infirmary is home to one of the UK's leading medical schools with outstanding modern facilities. The university's Centre for Ageing and Inequalities offers world-class expertise in an area of intense national and global focus as society wrestles with the consequences of increasing longevity. Its position in our ranking - and others like it - is depressed by consistently low scores in the National Student Survey. Even though the university's graduates are among the best paid, with three in four ending up in high-skilled jobs, they score their experience modestly. And last year's Teaching Excellence Framework outcomes confirmed that view, awarding student experience a bronze, when student outcomes and the university's overall rating earned silver. 

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University of Reading
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Overview

Reading is the place to go for all matters green. Already one of the leading centres for meteorology and research into climate change, the university practises what it preaches and is top of the People & Planet rankings for environmental and ethical performance. It has reduced carbon emissions by more than 60% against the baseline and aims to achieve net zero in the next six years. Even the food students eat on campus is made up of sustainable choices and healthy ingredients under the university's Clever Cuisine scheme. Some of that food is locally sourced from the 2,000 acres of farmland owned by the university, which has an outstanding reputation in agriculture and animal sciences. There were a record number of admissions last September. Just under 5,000 enrolled and applications are close to record levels, too. The university is based largely on the 320-acre Whiteknights campus, which has a lake, woodlands and formal gardens. The London Road and Greenlands campuses are smaller, the latter housing the excellent Henley Business School on the banks of the Thames. A new campus in Malaysia will increasingly offer the option for UK students to study abroad. 

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Paying the bills

Students who live in a postcode among the 40% with the highest levels of deprivation or the lowest rates of progression to university, and who come from homes with an income of up to £27,000, qualify for the £1,100 annual Reading bursary. There are a small number of scholarships, too. Students gaining AAB at A-level or equivalent who submit an 'impressive' application will be considered for a Built Environment undergraduate scholarship worth £1,000 in each year of study across seven construction, building and architecture degrees, while the Lorna Webber Vipond arts scholarship is worth £1,000 per year for one student studying art from an RG (Reading) postcode. Reading is one of five universities to be part of the PwC Flying Start degree programme. Students of the BA in accounting and business can apply for £10,000 in bursary support over four years from PwC if they are state-educated (or privately educated on a bursary or scholarship) and come from homes with less than £35,000 income. Accommodation is competitively priced. The cheapest self-catered rooms cost £6,020 for a 40-week tenancy, rising to £16,829 for a 51-week let. Catered rooms for 40 weeks cost between £6,538 and £10,069.

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University of Hull





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Overview

Hull is on the way back after slipping down domestic rankings and falling in popularity. Applications are climbing once more, with Hull appealing to prospective students thanks to a renewed focus on the student experience, which received a gold rating in last year's Teaching Excellence Framework assessments. Students have responded with a string of strong scores in recent National Student Surveys. When times are hard, the value for money offered by Hull - which often features at or near the top of lists of the cheapest places to live - is also harder to resist. The student population is not a typical one. Nearly three-quarters of them are recruited from within Yorkshire and the Humber; around one third are mature students aged over 21 when they begin their courses; and more than 55% come from homes where parents or carers did not attend university. Social diversity on campus is fostered by a contextual offer policy that has broad eligibility criteria. Investment in facilities continues apace, with healthcare, sports science and student accommodation the latest to benefit. 

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University of Essex





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Sixty years ago next month, a little more than 100 students arrived at a new university near Colchester based in three academic schools: comparative studies, physical sciences and social studies. Most of the Brutalist buildings for which the university is famous were still to be built, but from the outset Essex offered something different to the norm, the 'radical innovation' promised by founding vice-chancellor, Sir Albert Sloman. This university in the heart of Essex countryside became an unlikely hotbed of student radicalism in the late 1960s and 1970s, and built an international reputation in politics and the social sciences more broadly. Today, it is home to a large international population of students, who make up ab