Three national rankings of universities in the United Kingdom are published annually – by ''The Complete University Guide'', ''
The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers '' The Observer'' and '' The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the ...
'' and jointly by ''
The Times
''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper '' The Sunday Times'' ( ...
'' and ''
The Sunday Times
''The Sunday Times'' is a British newspaper whose circulation makes it the largest in Britain's quality press market category. It was founded in 1821 as ''The New Observer''. It is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of News UK, whi ...
''. Rankings have also been produced in the past by ''The Daily Telegraph and'' ''Financial Times''. UK Universities also rank highly in global university rankings with 8 UK Universities ranking in the top 100 of the three major global rankings - ''
QS World University Rankings
''QS World University Rankings'' is an annual publication of university rankings by Quacquarelli Symonds (QS). The QS system comprises three parts: the global overall ranking, the subject rankings (which name the world's top universities for th ...
'', ''
Times Higher Education World University Rankings
The ''Times Higher Education World University Rankings'' (often referred to as the THE Rankings) is an annual publication of university rankings by the ''Times Higher Education'' (THE) magazine. The publisher had collaborated with Quacquarel ...
'' and ''
Academic Ranking of World Universities
The ''Academic Ranking of World Universities'' (''ARWU''), also known as the Shanghai Ranking, is one of the annual publications of world university rankings. The league table was originally compiled and issued by Shanghai Jiao Tong Universi ...
''.
The primary aim of the rankings is to inform potential undergraduate applicants about UK universities based on a range of criteria, including entry standards, student satisfaction, staff/student ratio, academic services and facilities expenditure per student, research quality, proportion of Firsts and 2:1s, completion rates and student destinations. All of the league tables also rank universities on their strength in individual subjects.
Each year since 2008,
Times Higher Education
''Times Higher Education'' (''THE''), formerly ''The Times Higher Education Supplement'' (''The Thes''), is a British magazine reporting specifically on news and issues related to higher education.
Ownership
TPG Capital acquired TSL Education ...
has compiled a "Table of Tables" to combine the results of the 3 mainstream league tables. In the 2022 table, the top 5 universities were the
University of Oxford
, mottoeng = The Lord is my light
, established =
, endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019)
, budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20)
, chancellor ...
, the
University of Cambridge
, mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts.
Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge.
, established =
, other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...
the
University of St Andrews
(Aien aristeuein)
, motto_lang = grc
, mottoeng = Ever to ExcelorEver to be the Best
, established =
, type = Public research university
Ancient university
, endowment ...
, the
London School of Economics
, mottoeng = To understand the causes of things
, established =
, type = Public research university
, endowment = £240.8 million (2021)
, budget = £391.1 milli ...
and
Imperial College
Imperial College London (legally Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine) is a public research university in London, United Kingdom. Its history began with Prince Albert, consort of Queen Victoria, who developed his vision for a cu ...
.
Rankings
UK Universities in Global Rankings
The following universities rank in the top 100 in at least two global rankings:
Notes: a Number of times the university is ranked within the top 100 of one of the three global rankings. b The university is ranked within the top 25 of all three global rankings. c The university is ranked within the top 50 of all three global rankings.
The following rankings of British universities are produced annually:
''The Complete University Guide''
''The Complete University Guide'' is compiled by Mayfield University Consultants and was published for the first time in 2007.
The ranking uses ten criteria, with a statistical technique called the
Z-score
In statistics, the standard score is the number of standard deviations by which the value of a raw score (i.e., an observed value or data point) is above or below the mean value of what is being observed or measured. Raw scores above the mean ...
applied to the results of each. The ten Z-scores are then weighted (as given below) and summed to give a total score for each university. These total scores are then transformed to a scale where the top score is set at 1,000, with the remainder being a proportion of the top score. The ten criteria are:
* "Academic services spend" (weight 0.5) – the expenditure per student on all academic services (data source:
Higher Education Statistics Agency
The Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) was the official agency for the collection, analysis and dissemination of quantitative information about higher education in the United Kingdom. HESA became a directorate of Jisc after a merger in 202 ...
(HESA));
* "Degree completion" (weight 1.0) – a measure of the completion rate of students (data source: HESA);
* "Entry standards" (weight 1.0) – the average
UCAS
The Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS ) is a UK-based organisation whose main role is to operate the application process for British universities. It operates as an independent charity, funded by fees charged to applicants an ...
tariff score of new students under the age of 21 (data source: HESA);
* "Facilities spend" (weight 0.5) – the expenditure per student on staff and student facilities (data source: HESA);
* "Good honours" (weight 1.0) – the proportion of firsts and upper seconds (data source: HESA);(now phased out)
* "Graduate prospects" (weight 1.0) – a measure of the employability of graduates (data source: HESA);
* "Research quality" (weight 1.0) – a measure of the average quality of research (data source: 2014
Research Excellence Framework
The Research Excellence Framework (REF) is a research impact evaluation of British higher education institutions. It is the successor to the Research Assessment Exercise and it was first used in 2014 to assess the period 2008–2013. REF is under ...
(REF));
* Research intensity" (weight 0.5) – a measure of the fraction of staff who are research-active (data sources: HESA & REF);
* "Student satisfaction" (weight 1.5) – a measure of the view of students on the teaching quality (data source: the
National Student Survey The National Student Survey is an annual survey, launched in 2005, of all final year undergraduate degree students at institutions in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland within the United Kingdom. The survey is designed to assess und ...
); and
* "Student–staff ratio" (weight 1.0) – a measure of the average staffing level (data source: HESA).
The most recent league table (2023) ranked the top 50 (out of 130) British universities as follows:
''The Guardian''
''The Guardian'' ranking uses nine different criteria, each weighted between 5 and 15 per cent. Unlike other annual rankings of British universities, the criteria do not include a measure of research output. A "value-added" factor is included which compares students' degree results with their entry qualifications, described by the newspaper as being " sed upon a