Times Higher Education’s new World University Rankings for 2026 has arrived. Although the University of Cambridge is back in the top three unis worldwide, plenty of other UK unis flopped. Sorry. 28 UK unis fell down the rankings this year, including 11 Russell Group unis.
So, here are all the Russell Group unis that went down in The Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2026 compared to their performances in last year’s.
University of Bristol – down two places
In the 2026 league table, Bristol came joint 8oth with the University of Queensland in Australia. This is worse than last year, when Bristol ranked 78th.
King’s College London (KCL) – down two places
The uni came joint 36th last year, but only 38th this year. It didn’t score particularly badly in any one area – the University of Melbourne and Fudan University in China just did better than it.
The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) – down two places
LSE fell out of the top 50 to 52nd place. That’s the worst it has ever done in the Times Higher Education Rankings. LSE only scored 46.8 for its connections to industry, which is far lower than most of the other Russell Group unis.
Durham University – down three places
Although it came close to the top of some UK league tables this year, Durham didn’t do all that well for a Russell Group uni in the Times Higher Education World Rankings. It went down slightly from 172nd to 175th.
University of Manchester – down three places
Manchester is now the 56th best uni in the world, as opposed to the 53rd best.
University of Birmingham – down five places
Birmingham ranked 93rd last year, but it’s now tied for 98th position with Sweden’s KTH Royal Institute of Technology. Well, at least it’s still in the top 100 worldwide?
University of York – down eight places
York fell from 146th position to 154th. The uni was let down by its score for industry connections.
University of Nottingham – down nine places
Notts is not the 136th best uni in the world anymore. It’s the 145th. Newcastle Uni shot up in the league tables, and is now ranked one spot above Nottingham.
University of Sheffield – down 10 places
The uni plummeted from 98th place to joint 108th. Sheffield actually rated really well for research quality and international outlook, but its scores for pretty much everything else dragged it down.
University of Southampton – down 14 places
Sozzles, Southampton students. Your uni is now considered the 129th best in the world, instead of the 115th. Although Soto scored pretty well for research quality, it received a very mediocre 44.6 out of 100 points for teaching quality.
University of Warwick – down 16 places
Warwick came 106th last year, but is now tying for 122nd spot with the University of Göttingen in Germany and Wuhan University in China. This is the worst Warwick has ever done in The Times Higher Education World Rankings.
Featured image of the University of Sheffield by Elaine.
