Top Universities in the UK 2020

Updated February 20, 2021 Updated February 20, 2021

Top Universities in the UK 2020 main image

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
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 33^rd 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 500^th 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	601-650	University of Hull
=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 February 2021

Want more content like this Register for free site membership to get regular updates and your own personal content feed.

Learn more about studying in the UK with our guide

Related Categories:

university rankings

Written by

Craig O

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.