The University of Oxford continues to be ranked as the best university in the UK this year.
The elite institution has climbed one place since last year’s ranking and is now the fourth best university in the world, while their rival institution the University of Cambridge has dropped one place to rank seventh.
Cambridge is far from along among UK universities in seeing its rank fall this year, with 56 of the country’s 84 universities dropping at least one place.
However, there continues to be four UK universities within the global top 10, as you can see from the table below. Read on for more information on the top 10 UK universities, and view the full results of the QS World University Rankings 2020 here.
QS World University Rankings 2020 – Top 10 Universities in the UK
One of the prestigious Russell Group universities, the University of Warwick continues to be the tenth-best institution in the UK despite dropping eight places globally this year. The university is bolstered by a strong reputation with employers and a healthy percentage of international students, two of the indicators used to compile our ranking (as explained in the methodology).
9. University of Bristol
Bristol is one of the rare UK universities to improve this year, climbing two places to just sit inside the world’s top 50. Since last year, the university has improved its proportion of international faculty and students, as well as its academic reputation.
8. London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE)
The first of four universities based in England’s capital city, LSE is ranked seventh in the world for international students, making it the most diverse UK university in our ranking. It also performs particularly well for employer reputation, with only Oxbridge and Imperial ranking higher within the UK.
7. King’s College London (KCL)
King’s College Londonhas dropped two places this year to be ranked joint 33rd in the world, sharing the rank with Kyoto University in Japan. It’s particularly well-regarded for its medical education and research and is home to the oldest nursing school still in operation: the Florence Nightingale Faculty of Nursing and Midwifery (established in 1860).
6. University of Manchester
Another university to improve its overall rank since last year, the University of Manchester can point to improvements made in its academic reputation and research output (measured by citations per faculty). It also has the largest student community among these top UK universities, with approximately 41,000 students, nearly 11,000 of whom are from outside the EU.
5. University of Edinburgh
Falling two places but still inside the world’s top 20 universities, the University of Edinburgh is the only Scottish university to feature in this top 10. While Scottish students are able to study at the University of Edinburgh for free, students from other parts of the UK (i.e. England) have to pay fees. The university counts Charles Darwin, Alexander Graham Bell and J.K. Rowling among its alumni.
4. Imperial College London
Imperial has been overtaken by UCL in this year’s ranking, losing its status as the top university in London. Despite this, it continues to out-score UCL for four of the six ranking indicators: employer reputation, faculty student ratio, percentage of international faculty and percentage of international students.
3. UCL (University College London)
Now the best university in London, UCL is one of the largest and most diverse of the UK’s top universities, with a student population of 38,900, with almost 40 percent of these coming from outside the UK.
2. University of Cambridge
The gulf between Cambridge and its closest rival Oxford continues to grow, with the University of Cambridge slipping one place globally this year. UCL is now hot on its heels.
While Cambridge can point to a stronger reputation with academics and employers than Oxford can manage – as well as a more internationally diverse faculty – it’s now three years since it could claim to be the best university in the UK.
1. University of Oxford
The University of Oxford has tightened its grip on the number one spot in the UK this year, improving its proportion of international faculty and the number of citations being produced by those faculty members. While it might be tempting for such a famous university to rest on its laurels, it’s encouraging to see Oxford is still improving its research output.
The next 10 best universities in the UK can be found below
QS World University Rankings 2020 – Top Universities in the UK 11-20
After 500th place, the QS World University Rankings group universities together into bandings, e.g. 501-510, 511-520. The remaining 34 universities and their banding can be seen below.
QS World University Rankings 2020 – Top Universities in the UK 501-1000
As Head of Content, Craig is responsible for all articles and guides published across TopUniversities and TopMBA. He has nearly 10 years of experience writing for a student audience and extensive knowledge of universities and study programs around the world.
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Top Universities in the UK 2020
By Craig O
Updated April 20, 2021 Updated April 20, 2021The University of Oxford continues to be ranked as the best university in the UK this year.
The elite institution has climbed one place since last year’s ranking and is now the fourth best university in the world, while their rival institution the University of Cambridge has dropped one place to rank seventh.
Cambridge is far from along among UK universities in seeing its rank fall this year, with 56 of the country’s 84 universities dropping at least one place.
However, there continues to be four UK universities within the global top 10, as you can see from the table below. Read on for more information on the top 10 UK universities, and view the full results of the QS World University Rankings 2020 here.
QS World University Rankings 2020 – Top 10 Universities in the UK
UK Rank
Global Rank
University
1
4
University of Oxford
2
7
University of Cambridge
3
8
UCL (University College of London)
4
9
Imperial College London
5
20
University of Edinburgh
6
27
University of Manchester
7
=33
King’s College London (KCL)
8
44
London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE)
9
49
University of Bristol
10
62
University of Warwick
10. University of Warwick
One of the prestigious Russell Group universities, the University of Warwick continues to be the tenth-best institution in the UK despite dropping eight places globally this year. The university is bolstered by a strong reputation with employers and a healthy percentage of international students, two of the indicators used to compile our ranking (as explained in the methodology).
9. University of Bristol
Bristol is one of the rare UK universities to improve this year, climbing two places to just sit inside the world’s top 50. Since last year, the university has improved its proportion of international faculty and students, as well as its academic reputation.
8. London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE)
The first of four universities based in England’s capital city, LSE is ranked seventh in the world for international students, making it the most diverse UK university in our ranking. It also performs particularly well for employer reputation, with only Oxbridge and Imperial ranking higher within the UK.
7. King’s College London (KCL)
King’s College London has dropped two places this year to be ranked joint 33rd in the world, sharing the rank with Kyoto University in Japan. It’s particularly well-regarded for its medical education and research and is home to the oldest nursing school still in operation: the Florence Nightingale Faculty of Nursing and Midwifery (established in 1860).
6. University of Manchester
Another university to improve its overall rank since last year, the University of Manchester can point to improvements made in its academic reputation and research output (measured by citations per faculty). It also has the largest student community among these top UK universities, with approximately 41,000 students, nearly 11,000 of whom are from outside the EU.
5. University of Edinburgh
Falling two places but still inside the world’s top 20 universities, the University of Edinburgh is the only Scottish university to feature in this top 10. While Scottish students are able to study at the University of Edinburgh for free, students from other parts of the UK (i.e. England) have to pay fees. The university counts Charles Darwin, Alexander Graham Bell and J.K. Rowling among its alumni.
4. Imperial College London
Imperial has been overtaken by UCL in this year’s ranking, losing its status as the top university in London. Despite this, it continues to out-score UCL for four of the six ranking indicators: employer reputation, faculty student ratio, percentage of international faculty and percentage of international students.
3. UCL (University College London)
Now the best university in London, UCL is one of the largest and most diverse of the UK’s top universities, with a student population of 38,900, with almost 40 percent of these coming from outside the UK.
2. University of Cambridge
The gulf between Cambridge and its closest rival Oxford continues to grow, with the University of Cambridge slipping one place globally this year. UCL is now hot on its heels.
While Cambridge can point to a stronger reputation with academics and employers than Oxford can manage – as well as a more internationally diverse faculty – it’s now three years since it could claim to be the best university in the UK.
1. University of Oxford
The University of Oxford has tightened its grip on the number one spot in the UK this year, improving its proportion of international faculty and the number of citations being produced by those faculty members. While it might be tempting for such a famous university to rest on its laurels, it’s encouraging to see Oxford is still improving its research output.
The next 10 best universities in the UK can be found below
QS World University Rankings 2020 – Top Universities in the UK 11-20
UK Rank
Global Rank
University
11
67
University of Glasgow
=12
=78
Durham University
=12
=78
University of Sheffield
14
81
University of Birmingham
15
=93
University of Leeds
16
96
University of Nottingham
17
97
University of Southampton
18
100
University of St Andrews
19
126
Queen Mary University of London (QMUL)
20
128
Lancaster University
A further 30 UK universities are ranked within the world’s top 500 institutions.
QS World University Rankings 2020 – Top Universities in the UK 21-50
UK Rank
Global Rank
University
21
146
Newcastle University
22
148
University of York
23
=154
Cardiff University
24
=163
University of Exeter
25
172
University of Bath
26
=173
Queen’s University of Belfast
27
181
University of Liverpool
28
194
University of Aberdeen
29
205
University of Reading
30
222
Loughborough University
31
=239
University of Leicester
32
246
University of Sussex
33
=274
University of Surrey
34
=291
Royal Holloway University of London
35
=296
University of Strathclyde
36
=302
University of Dundee
37
309
SOAS University of London
=38
=314
Heriot-Watt University
=38
=314
University of East Anglia (UEA)
40
328
Birkbeck College, University of London
41
=349
City, University of London
42
=359
Brunel University
43
=368
University of Kent
44
370
University of Essex
45
376
Oxford Brookes University
46
417
Goldsmiths, University of London
47
=442
Aston University
48
=462
Swansea University
49
=478
University of Stirling
50
=484
Aberystwyth University
After 500th place, the QS World University Rankings group universities together into bandings, e.g. 501-510, 511-520. The remaining 34 universities and their banding can be seen below.
QS World University Rankings 2020 – Top Universities in the UK 501-1000
UK Rank
Global Rank
University
51
521-530
Bangor University
52
531-540
Coventry University
53
591-600
Kingston University, London
=54
601-650
Keele University
=54
601-650
Ulster University
=54
601-650
University of Bradford
=54
601-650
University of Portsmouth
=54
=58
651-700
Plymouth University
=58
651-700
University of Westminster
=60
701-750
Bournemouth University
=60
701-750
London South Bank University
=60
701-750
Northumbria University at Newcastle
=60
701-750
Nottingham Trent University
=60
701-750
University of Greenwich
=60
701-750
University of Huddersfield
=67
751-800
London Metropolitan University
=67
751-800
Manchester Metropolitan University
=67
751-800
University of East London
=67
751-800
University of Hertfordshire
=67
751-800
University of the West of England
=72
801-1000
Birmingham City University (BCU)
=72
801-1000
Canterbury Christ Church University
=72
801-1000
De Montfort University
=72
801-1000
Edinburgh Napier University
=72
801-1000
Glasgow Caledonian University
=72
801-1000
Liverpool John Moores University
=72
801-1000
Middlesex University
=72
801-1000
Sheffield Hallam University
=72
801-1000
Robert Gordon University
=72
801-1000
University of Brighton
=72
801-1000
University of Central Lancashire
=72
801-1000
University of Lincoln
=72
801-1000
University of Salford
This article was originally published in June 2019 . It was last updated in April 2021
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As Head of Content, Craig is responsible for all articles and guides published across TopUniversities and TopMBA. He has nearly 10 years of experience writing for a student audience and extensive knowledge of universities and study programs around the world.
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