Oxford is sole leader of combined results of three main UK university league tables for first time

November 29, 2021

Ellie Bothwell

Universities in London have made gains in this year’s Times Higher Education “Table of Tables”, with four institutions in the capital featuring in the top 20 for the first time in a decade.

King’s College London, which was a new entry last year, is the biggest riser in the top 30 list, climbing eight places to 19th, after making significant progress in The Guardian and The Times league tables. UCL also climbs three places to eighth, its first top 10 position since the 2019 edition, while Imperial College London rises one place to fifth and the London School of Economics and Political Science remains in fourth.

However, Royal Holloway, University of London, the only other institution from the capital in the list, drops one place to 25th in the table, which is based on the combined results of the UK’s three main domestic university rankings: The Complete University Guide, the Guardian University Guide and the combined Times and Sunday Times’ Good University Guide.

The University of Oxford is the sole leader of the table for the first time, as the University of Cambridge falls from joint first to second. Before last year, the University of Cambridge had a nine-year outright lead at the top of the ranking.

The University of St Andrews remains in third place overall, despite making headlines for topping The Times ranking for the first time in September.

Scottish institutions continue to make progress overall, with the universities of Edinburgh and Glasgow both rising from joint 14th to 12th and 13th respectively and Heriot-Watt University joining the table for the first time since the 2016 edition.

But the University of Dundee bucks the trend, dropping out of the table after ranking joint 22nd last year. The University of the West of England and Newcastle University also fall out of the top 30.

The University of Birmingham is the biggest faller within the top 30, dropping six places to 23rd.

Alongside Heriot-Watt, the University of Chichester, Swansea University and Queen’s University Belfast are new entries this year.