League tables: What's new for 2027

CONTENTS

1. 2027 University League Tables – who climbs in the rankings?

2. Top rankings from universities that might surprise you

3. More universities qualify for our rankings in 2027

4. Trends in the rankings – lower entry standards offer opportunities

2027 University League Tables – who climbs in the rankings?

Strength and stability dominate at the top of the table, with no change in the top four positions in our 2027 university rankings. Cambridge, Oxford, London School of Economics and Political Science and St Andrews all keep the same place as last year.

Congratulations to the University of Leeds for climbing three places from 21st in last year’s ranking to make it back into the top 20 for 2027.

While not every university can make it to the top of our tables, it’s important to note how much they improve and climb each year. The table below shows the universities in the top 50 of the rankings that have leapt up by five or considerably more places this year. This year, the University of Dundee, the University of Suffolk and Brunel University London all climb by more than ten places.

Click on the university names below to find out more about them and how they score across our measures.

Notable mentions

Lower down the ranking we’ve also had some high climbers. Keele University climbs 14 places to 54, the University of Hull rises by 17 to rank 64 and the University of Sunderland is now at 68, having risen 15 places in the main table this year.

The highest climb this year comes from the University of East London, which has risen 30 places. This is driven in part by a large improvement in graduate prospect outcomes, particularly in Accounting & Finance, Dance, Drama & Cinematics, and Law.

Top rankings from universities that might surprise you

While many may focus on the overall rankings, there are universities lower down the league table that do much better than higher-ranked institutions in the subject tables.

Bangor University, for example, is 49th in the main university league table. But in the 2027 Medical Technology & Bioengineering rankings, it has risen to claim 2nd place. This puts it above universities that feature in the overall top ten.

The University of Reading comes in at 42 in the main league table, but in Geology, it ranks 3rd – placing above the likes of Oxford and Imperial College London.

Further down the main table at 68, the University of Sunderland outcompetes 44 other universities in the popular subject of Childhood & Youth Studies to rank 2nd. And despite placing lower in the main university league table, the University of Bradford is 2nd in the UK for Optometry, Ophthalmics & Orthoptics.

Explore the tables for yourself and find out where universities rank by subject, region, and overall. Or you can find out about other ‘hidden gem’ universities that shine in the subject rankings.

More universities qualify for our rankings in 2027

In 2027, seven universities qualified for our subject rankings for the first time:

• Architectural Association School of Architecture
• ASU London
• Kent and Medway Medical School
• Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts
• Northeastern University London
• Northern School of Contemporary Dance
• Regent's University London

This means that between our 74 subject rankings, the main university league table and the performing arts table, you can now compare 164 UK universities.

Our rankings all use impartial, publicly available data, so you can have confidence in the measures we use. We also apply a consistent methodology, which allows you to compare performance over a period of time.

They enable you to compare universities that are very different in character – from modern institutions to historic universities. You can also see how smaller, specialist providers stack up against larger unis offering a broad range of subject areas.

It makes our league tables the ideal starting place to begin drawing up your university shortlist, helping you to review universities based on their performance. If you want to personalise your results, then our Uniselect tool adds in useful information such as accommodation costs and the sports that are available.

Trends in the rankings – lower entry standards offer opportunities

When our league table compilers put together the rankings, each year we begin to spot trends in the data that tell a story.

In 2027, the entry standards scores are lower for all universities – even unis in the top ten of the rankings.

This doesn’t mean that universities are dumbing down. Our Entry Standards measure is a count of the total qualifications achieved by students starting at the university. Often, these may be higher than the grades needed to get in – particularly at unis where there is a lot of competition for places.

The change in this measure may be due to a number of factors. For example, top universities may be taking in more ‘widening participation’ students whose grades are lower due to their life circumstances. Or, on results day when students get their grades, those who just missed the entry grades may still be offered a place at their first-choice uni.

It means you could consider applying to a uni that is ‘aspirational’ – where you could get in if you do better than your predicted grades. But you should always have a realistic ‘insurance choice’ university as a back-up in case your exams don’t go to plan.

Don’t discount universities with lower entry standards, though. After all, a student with three or four A* A Levels might expect to get a graduate job quickly after leaving uni. But if you are among the majority who don’t expect such stellar grades, then there are some institutions that outperform even those at the top of the rankings when it comes to graduate outcomes.

For example, in the Business & Management Studies league table, the top ranks are dominated by unis with average entry standards of 175+. But ranking 15th for graduate prospects outcomes, you’ll find the University of Chichester. Even though its entry standards are much lower by comparison (112) and it is 47th in this subject overall, 83% of the uni’s graduates go on to graduate-level jobs or further study. This means it has better graduate prospects than some unis that rank in the subject’s top ten.

In the Law subject table, Greater Manchester ranks 93rd and has entry standards of 96. Among the top ten of this table, the average entry standards are 185+. But for graduate prospects in Law, Greater Manchester ranks 8th with a graduate prospects score of 87%, putting it above some universities at the top of this table.

Find out the top universities for graduate prospects if you have lower grades. You can also learn how to use the league tables effectively to find your ideal university by comparing graduate prospects, research quality, and student satisfaction.