Top 20 Universities

Here are listings of the top 20 universities in the UK that was compliled from the Times Higher Education Supplement (THE) research that's published each year in October.

The list is developed from asking for peer reviews, employer reviews, the faculty to student ratio, citations per faculty, number of international faculty and students.

Top 20 Worldwide Rankings 2017

Full information on how these are weighted are listed in the top universities in the world page.

Top 20 Universities in the UK Chart

UK RankWorld RankUniversity NameStudentsScore Rating
11University of Oxford19,71895.0%
24University of Cambridge18,60593.6%
38Imperial College London15,23690.0%
415University College London28,60286.5%
525London School of Economics9,40180.2%
627University of Edinburgh25,27979.2%
736King's College London21,98675.9%
855University of Manchester34,01569.7%
971University of Bristol18,54464.4%
1082=Warwick University18,55862.0%
1188University of Glasgow22,85661.4%
1296=Durham University15,70560.6%
13109University of Sheffield23,96159.1%
14110=University of St Andrews8,45358.9%
15113=Queen Mary University of London14,50258.7%
16121=University of Southampton21,04958.1%
17126=University of Exeter18,23357.9%
18129University of York14,67657.7%
19130University of Birmingham26,36257.9%
2082University of Leeds27,79156.8%

Source: THE best UK universities

The worse rated college in the UK is Sheffield Hallam University with a score of 8.3%.

About Cambridge University

University of CambridgeCambridge University is the second oldest university in the English speaking world, was founded in 1209, and based in Cambridgeshire England. The university has 31 separate colleges with over 9,000 staff teaching 18,000 students. The success rate of applicants is just 25%. It's currently ranked 2nd best in the UK, and 4th best in the world.

Top 20 Universities in the World Chart

Here are the current top 20 universities in the world according to their latest research.

RankUniversity NameStudentsScore Rating
1University of Oxford19,71895.0%
2California Institute of Technology2,18194.3%
3Stanford University15,65893.8%
4University of Cambridge18,60593.6%
5Massachusetts Institute of Technology11,19293.4%
6Harvard University19,89092.7%
7Princeton University7,92590.2%
8Imperial College London15,23690.0%
9ETH Zurich18,61689.3%
10=Berkeley University34,83488.9%
10=University of Chicago13,48688.9%
12Yale University11,94688.2%
13University of Pennsylvania13,48687.1%
14Los Angeles University38,39286.6%
15University College London28,60286.5%
16Columbia University25,65986.1%
17Johns Hopkins University15,30385.9%
18Duke University15,20484.7%
19Cornell University21,59384.6%
20Northwestern University18,57083.7%

As you can see, the top 20 rankings are made up of universities mainly from the UK and America, with one in Switzerland. Here are further lists split by those countries.

Top 20 Universities in the USA Chart

USA RankWorld RankUniversity NameStudentsScore Rating
12California Institute of Technology2,18194.3%
23Stanford University15,65893.8%
35Massachusetts Institute of Technology11,19293.4%
46Harvard University19,89092.7%
57Princeton University7,92590.2%
610=Berkeley University34,83488.9%
710=University of Chicago13,48688.9%
812Yale University11,94688.2%
913University of Pennsylvania20,36787.1%
1014Los Angeles University38,39286.6%
1116Columbia University25,65986.1%
1217Johns Hopkins University15,30385.9%
1318Duke University15,20484.7%
1419Cornell University21,59384.6%
1520Northwestern University18,57083.7%
1621University of Michigan41,91283.6%
1723Carnegie Mellon University12,31181.8%
1825=University of Washington45,16280.2%
1932New York University43,02176.7%
2033=Georgia Institute of Technology19,84776.3%

The worse rated college in the UK is University of Southern Mississippi with a score of 8.3%.

About Harvard University

Harvard UniversityHarvard University is the oldest institute of higher learning in the USA founded in 1636 and named after its first benefactor, John Harvard. The main base is Cambridge Massachusetts and a member of the Ivy League. The campus has the largest library system in the world with 79 different types available. It's currently ranked 4th best in the USA and 6th best in the world.

Source: THE top US universities

The results are published each October so watch out for the new top 20 universities in the UK, USA and the world from the THE site which is linked to on the page with the top world wide universities listings