The Guardian UK University Guide — 2026

The Guardian guide ranks UK universities from a student-experience angle, emphasising teaching quality, value added, and graduate career outcomes (rather than research).

117 UK universities · data refreshed 21 May 2026

Showing 117 universities

Rank	University	Score
TEF G · #1	University of Oxford	—
TEF G · #2	University of St Andrews	—
TEF G · #3	University of Cambridge	—
TEF G · #4	London School of Economics and Political Science, University of London	—
TEF G · #5	Durham University	—
TEF G · #6	Imperial College London	—
TEF G · #7	University of Warwick	—
TEF G · #8	University of Bath	—
TEF G · #9	University of the Arts London	—
TEF G · #10	UCL (University College London)	—
TEF S · #11	Loughborough University	—
TEF S · #12	University of Essex	—
TEF S · #13	The University of Edinburgh	—
TEF S · #14	Lancaster University	—
TEF S · #15	University of Bristol	—
TEF S · #16	University of Sheffield	—
TEF S · #17	University of Exeter	—
TEF S · #18	University of Aberdeen	—
TEF S · #19	University of Strathclyde	—
TEF S · #20	University of Southampton	—
TEF S · #21	King's College London, University of London	—
TEF S · #21	University of Liverpool	—
TEF S · #23	University of Surrey	—
TEF S · #24	University of Glasgow	—
TEF S · #25	Nottingham Trent University	—
TEF S · #26	University of Dundee	—
TEF S · #27	University of Sunderland	—
TEF S · #28	University of Birmingham	—
TEF S · #28	University of Chichester	—
TEF S · #28	University of Leeds	—
TEF S · #31	Heriot-Watt University	—
TEF S · #32	Swansea University	—
TEF S · #33	Manchester Metropolitan University	—
TEF S · #33	University of East London	—
TEF S · #35	University of Manchester	—
TEF S · #35	University of Portsmouth	—
TEF S · #37	Cardiff University	—
TEF S · #38	University of York	—
TEF S · #40	University of Leicester	—
TEF S · #41	University of West London	—
TEF S · #42	Liverpool John Moores University	—
TEF S · #43	Keele University	—
TEF S · #43	University of South Wales	—
TEF S · #45	Queen's University Belfast	—
TEF S · #46	Edge Hill University	—
TEF S · #47	Northumbria University, Newcastle	—
TEF S · #48	Aston University, Birmingham	—
TEF S · #49	University of Hertfordshire	—
TEF S · #50	Abertay University	—
TEF B · #51	University of Nottingham	—

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How The Guardian UK University Guide is calculated

Uses NSS teaching, NSS feedback, NSS overall satisfaction, student/staff ratio, expenditure per student, average entry tariff, value-added score, and career prospects 15 months after graduation.

Official methodology →