Best universities in the UK 2023

The University of Oxford is top in a list of the best universities in the UK 2023, which includes institutions in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland

Top 10 universities in the UK

Scroll down for the full list of best universities in the UK

	World University Rank 2023	University	City/town
1	1	University of Oxford	Oxford
2	=3	University of Cambridge	Cambridge
3	10	Imperial College London	London
4	22	UCL	London
5	29	University of Edinburgh	Edinburgh
6	35	King’s College London	London
7	37	London School of Economics and Political Science	London
8	=54	University of Manchester	Manchester
9	76	University of Bristol	Bristol
10	=82	University of Glasgow	Glasgow

Which are the top universities in the UK? If you want to study in England, Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland, which universities should you consider?

The College of Oxford takes to begin with, using the College of Cambridge following in second place, while a couple of London’s best universities along with a Scottish college complete the very best five.

From the top universities within the United kingdom, about 20 have been in London, including well-known institutions for example Imperial College London and UCL, and much more lately established universities like the College of Westminster and also the College of Greenwich. 

Top 5 universities in the UK

 

5. University of Edinburgh

 Founded in 1583, the University of Edinburgh may be the sixth earliest college within the British-speaking world and something of england and Ireland’s seven ancient universities.

It consists of three colleges: arts, humanities and social sciences science and engineering and medicine and veterinary medicine. In those colleges you will find 20 academic schools.

A variety of student clubs and societies is available, together with a music society, a theatre society and a number of teams including football, rowing, judo and rugby.

A student newspaper, A Student, is among the earliest student newspapers within the United kingdom and it was founded through the author Robert Louis Stevenson.

4. UCL

UCL’s primary campus is incorporated in the manchester section of Bloomsbury.  Up to 50 % of UCL students come from outdoors the United kingdom, with considerably more from Asia than from continental Europe.

UCL was the very first college in England to confess students regardless of class, race or religion, and the first one to admit women on equal terms with men, following a educational philosophy of Jeremy Bentham, the university’s “spiritual founder”.

For admission, undergraduate students are needed to possess achieved top grades within their senior high school exams. Probably the most competitive degree may be the BSc in philosophy, politics and financial aspects, which receives 30 applicants for each place.

Famous alumni include Mahatma Gandhi Alexander Graham Bell, the inventor from the telephone and Coldplay’s Chris Martin, who met another people of his band in the college.

Best universities in London

3. Imperial College London

Imperial’s primary campus is near Kensington Palace within the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, along with other campuses round the city.  A student cohort is very worldwide and consists of greater than 125 nationalities.

Imperial College London is actually rated one of the better universities on the planet for science, technology, engineering, medicine and business.

It had been created in 1907 from the merger of three colleges working in london and today has 17,000 students and eight,000 staff.

Additionally to top scientists, Fields medallists and Nobel prizewinners, Imperial also produces influential government advisors and policymakers. Many graduates will continue to achieve breakthrough innovations in industry and business, and therefore are highly searched for after by blue-nick companies and begin-ups.

The author H. G. Wells and Sir Alexander Fleming, who discovered penicillin, are among Imperial’s famous alumni.

2. University of Cambridge

 As a whole, 117 Nobel laureates are associated with the College of Cambridge and Cambridge-affiliated mathematicians have won 11 Fields medals. Notable alumni include actors, athletes, politicians, royals and cultural figures, including biologist Charles Darwin, broadcaster David Attenborough, conservationist Jane Goodall and actress Olivia Colman.

Like Oxford, the College of Cambridge is essentially collegiate and it is among the world’s earliest and many esteemed universities. The city is simply an hour or so from London.

The college hosts greater than 19,000 students and 9,000 staff. You will find 31 colleges, most of which go as far back towards the 13th century, and most 100 academic departments.

Cambridge is especially famous for excellence in mathematics and it has educated probably the most famous British scientists.

Undergraduates are taught via lectures and supervisions – intimate tutorials with only a couple of other students at most. The workload is heavy but terms are shorter than at many other UK universities.

Cambridge libraries are home to extensive collections of medieval manuscripts and the university museums display collections of archaeological artefacts and zoological specimens.

1. University of Oxford

Greater than 30 world leaders, 27 British prime ministers, 50 Nobelists and 120 Olympic medallists were educated at Oxford. Stephen Hawking, Hugh Grant and Indira Gandhi are a few of its famous graduates.

Undergraduates and postgraduates fit in with certainly one of its 44 colleges and frequently reside in the school building or college-owned accommodation.

Among the world’s earliest and many esteemed universities, the College of Oxford attracts top scholars and students. Entry standards are high and admission is competitive typically, it receives five applications for every available place.

Social existence and outdoor recreation - for example rowing, cultural occasions and societies - also center around the school. Undergraduates are trained almost solely by tutors within their college, while postgraduate students are mainly offered educationally with a centralised faculty.

There are other than 100 libraries at Oxford, the favourite being the Bodleian, built-in 1602. The town also offers numerous museums, such as the Oxford College Museum of Natural History, which houses the remains of the dodo, and also the Museum from the Good reputation for Science, which displays a blackboard utilized by Albert Einstein.

Best universities in the UK 2023

Click each institution to view its full World University Rankings 2023 profile

	World UK rank 2023 University Rank 2023	University	City/town
1	1	University of Oxford	Oxford
2	=3	University of Cambridge	Cambridge
3	10	Imperial College London	London
4	22	UCL	London
5	29	University of Edinburgh	Edinburgh
6	35	King’s College London	London
7	37	London School of Economics and Political Science	London
8	=54	University of Manchester	Manchester
9	76	University of Bristol	Bristol
10	=82	University of Glasgow	Glasgow
11	=104	University of Warwick	Warwick
=12	=108	University of Birmingham	Birmingham
=12	=108	University of Southampton	Southampton
14	=114	University of Sheffield	Sheffield
15	122	Lancaster University	Lancaster
16	=124	Queen Mary University of London	London
17	=128	University of Leeds	Leeds
18	130	University of Nottingham	Nottingham
19	=137	University of Exeter	Exeter
20	=139	Newcastle University	Newcastle
21	=139	University of York	York
22	=163	University of Leicester	Leicester
23	=176	University of Liverpool	Liverpool
24	=187	Cardiff University	Cardiff
25	=192	University of Aberdeen	Aberdeen
=26	=198	Durham University	Durham
=26	=198	Queen’s University Belfast	Belfast
=26	=198	University of Reading	Reading
=29	201–250	University of Dundee	Dundee
=29	201–250	University of East Anglia	Norwich
=29	201–250	St George’s, University of London	London
=29	201–250	University of St Andrews	St Andrews
=29	201–250	University of Surrey	Guildford
=29	201–250	University of Sussex	Brighton
=35	251–300	University of Bath	Bath
=35	251–300	Bournemouth University	Bournemouth
=35	251–300	Brighton and Sussex Medical School	Brighton
=35	251–300	Swansea University	Swansea
=39	301–350	Anglia Ruskin University (ARU)	East Anglia
=39	301–350	University of Essex	Essex
=41	351–400	Birkbeck, University of London	London
=41	351–400	City, University of London	London
=41	351–400	University of Kent	Kent
=41	351–400	Loughborough University	Loughborough
=41	351–400	Royal Holloway, University of London	London
=41	351–400	Royal Veterinary College	London
=41	351–400	University of Stirling	Stirling
=48	401–500	Aston University	Birmingham
=48	401–500	Bangor University	Bangor
=48	401–500	Brunel University London	London
=48	401–500	Edinburgh Napier University	Edinburgh
=48	401–500	University of Lincoln	Lincoln
=48	401–500	Liverpool John Moores University	Liverpool
=48	401–500	Middlesex University	Middlesex
=48	401–500	University of Plymouth	Plymouth
=48	401–500	University of Portsmouth	Portsmouth
=48	401–500	SRUC (Scotland’s Rural College)	Edinburgh
=48	401–500	University of Strathclyde	Strathclyde
=48	401–500	University of the West of England	Bristol
=60	501–600	Aberystwyth University	Aberystwyth
=60	501–600	Birmingham City University	Birmingham
=60	501–600	University of Bradford	Bradford
=60	501–600	Goldsmiths, University of London	London
=60	501–600	University of Greenwich	Greenwich
=60	501–600	Heriot-Watt University	Edinburgh
=60	501–600	University of Hull	Hull
=60	501–600	Keele University	Keele
=60	501–600	Northumbria University	Northumbria
=60	501–600	Nottingham Trent University	Nottingham
=60	501–600	SOAS University of London	London
=71	601–800	De Montfort University	Leicester
=71	601–800	University of Derby	Derby
=71	601–800	Glasgow Caledonian University	Glasgow
=71	601–800	University of Hertfordshire	Hatfield
=71	601–800	University of Huddersfield	Huddersfield
=71	601–800	London South Bank University	London
=71	601–800	Manchester Metropolitan University	Manchester
=71	601–800	The Open University	Nationwide
=71	601–800	Oxford Brookes University	Oxford
=71	601–800	Ulster University	Ulster
=71	601–800	University of the West of Scotland	Paisley
=71	601–800	University of Wolverhampton	Wolverhampton
=83	801–1000	University of Bedfordshire	Luton
=83	801–1000	University of Brighton	Brighton
=83	801–1000	Coventry University	Coventry
=83	801–1000	Edge Hill University	Ormskirk
=83	801–1000	Kingston University	London
=83	801–1000	Leeds Beckett University	Leeds
=83	801–1000	University of Roehampton	London
=83	801–1000	University of Salford	Salford
=83	801–1000	Sheffield Hallam University	Sheffield
=83	801–1000	University of Winchester	Winchester
=93	1001–1200	Cardiff Metropolitan University	Cardiff
=93	1001–1200	University of Central Lancashire	Preston
=93	1001–1200	University of East London	London
=93	1001–1200	Robert Gordon University	Aberdeen
=93	1001–1200	University of South Wales	Pontypridd
=93	1001–1200	University of Sunderland	Sunderland
=93	1001–1200	Teesside University	Teesside
=93	1001–1200	University of Westminster	London
=101	1201–1500	Canterbury Christ Church University	Canterbury
=101	1201–1500	University of Chester	Chester
=101	1201–1500	Staffordshire University	Stoke-on-Trent