League Tables of British Universities

Starting in the early 1990s, The Times newspaper started publishing league tables ranking British universities based on a number of criteria, such as the quality of their teaching and research (which were assessed by external inspectors), entry standards and dropout rates. These league tables have become increasingly popular over the last few years, and several other papers, such as The Guardian, now publish their own tables.

Although the various tables differ slightly in how they assess universities, the same names tend to dominate the top positions. The universities of Oxford and Cambridge have typically headed the list, based on their superior funding and prestige, which allows them to attract some of Britain's best students, lecturers and researchers. Cambridge has fared better, as it has claimed first place most years, beating Oxford into second position. Oxford has recently been top of some lists though, based on its greater spending on facilities, but it still lags behind Cambridge in its teaching and research assessments (although these are now several years old).

Third place is usually taken by Imperial College London, although Imperial has on occasion been ranked second, pushing Oxford into third position. Other consistently high performers include two other London colleges: the LSE and University College. The universities of Bath, Bristol, Nottingham, Warwick and York are among a group of universities that also do consistently well.

Traditionally the post 1992 universities have done less well in these rankings. However, in recent years some of the new universities have steadily moved up the league tables and can now be found in the top half of all universities. For example, in the Guardian 2004 Middlesex was ranked 19th overall, and Oxford Brookes ranked 26th.

The tables are often used by students when deciding which universities to apply to. Some tables are more specific, ranking universities on their strength in individual subjects, and not just overall teaching and research.

Universities that appear high in league tables often attract the best students, and maintain their high entry standards and low dropout rates. Thus, they maintain their high positions, while the universities lower down the table retain their low ones: a self-fulfilling prophecy.