You want your uni to have a great reputation, because if you can’t brag about studying there, then what’s the point? As part of Times Higher Education’s World Reputation Rankings 2025, more than 55,0000 scholars and uni lecturers from across the globe voted on which unis they reckon are the most prestigious. So, you can see exactly how your uni’s reputation compares to all the other UK unis’.
Unsurprisingly, the UK unis with the most academic reputation in 2025 are Oxbridge. Yawn. Plenty of the UK’s Russell Group unis have a really great rep among scholars across the world – presumably because they have strong traditions of doing lots of research. The only Russell Group uni not to make it into the top 30 is Queen’s University Belfast. Sozzles.
Quite a few rogue unis are also among the UK’s 30 most reputable institutions. Lancaster University isn’t part of the Russell Group, but it’s apparently really popular among scholars from across the world. They voted it into the most prestigious 200 unis worldwide. Yay for Lancs.
So, here are the 30 UK unis with the most academic reputation in 2025, according to the scholars surveyed for Times Higher Education’s World Reputation Rankings 2025. The number in brackets refers to how each UK uni ranked for reputation among unis in the world. This is different to that uni’s overall ranking in the world, which you can check up on here.
30. University of Bath (243rd in the world)
29. City St George’s, University of London (242nd in the world)
28. Cardiff University (227th in the world)
The vibey Cardiff Uni library
27. London Business School (221st in the world)
26. University of Reading (213rd in the world)
25. Newcastle University (212th in the world)
24. University of Exeter (198th in the world)
23. Queen Mary University of London (193rd in the world)
22. University of Liverpool (182nd in the world)
21. London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (180th in the world)
20. Lancaster University (179th in the world)
19. University of York (167th in the world)
18. University of Sheffield (156th in the world)
Real life Sheffield students, looking very academic and reputable
17. University of Southampton (152nd in the world)
16. University of St Andrews (147th in the world)
15. Durham University (142nd in the world)
14. University of Nottingham (140th in the world)
13. University of Birmingham (129th in the world)
12. University of Warwick (118th in the world)
11. University of Leeds (117th in the world)
10. University of Glasgow (103rd in the world)
The Uni of Glasgow, looking very intense and prestigious
9. University of Bristol (88th in the world)
8. University of Manchester (62nd in the world)
7. King’s College London (KCL) (51st in the world)
6. London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) (41st in the world)
5. University of Edinburgh (30th in the world)
4. University College London (UCL) (25th in the world)
3. Imperial College London (14th in the world)
2. University of Cambridge (5th in the world)
1. University of Oxford (3rd in the world)
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