If you’re looking for the best universities in the UK, especially to study abroad there, you might consider the CUG (Complete University Guide) university rankings. A well-regarded independent rankings provider, CUG is unlike global ranking systems, as it focuses exclusively on UK universities.

CUG rankings don’t just look at academic reputation, but assess metrics such as entry standards, student satisfaction, research quality, research intensity, graduate prospects (outcomes and on track), student-staff ratio, academic services spend, facilities spend, and proportion of students who continue in their studies after the first year.

For a start, the data used by CUG come from public sources, namely the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA), as well as from the National Student Survey and the 2021 Research Excellence Framework (REF).

The latter two are overseen by the regulatory bodies for UK universities: Office for Students (OfS) for England, Scottish Funding Council (SFC) and Higher Education Funding Council for Wales (HEFCW), and The Department for the Economy in Northern Ireland.

To jump straight to using these rankings to your advantage, just ask an education advisor who can guide you for free in your study abroad journey.


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CUG ranking measures explained

Entry standards

This measures how competitive it is to get into a university, based on the average UCAS Tariff score—a point system that UK universities refer to for course entry requirements—of new undergraduate students admitted to the university, taken from the latest HESA data.

Student satisfaction

A measure of student opinion on the teaching quality at the university, with data extracted from the National Student Survey (NSS) of final-year undergraduate students in 2023. As this survey is a measure of student views, rather than a direct measure of quality, it may be influenced by various factors including expectations. For example, a high-ranked university where students expected a greater level of teaching could score lower than a lower-ranked university that does better than students had expected.

Research quality

An assessment of the quality of research done at the university, with data coming from the 2021 Research Excellence Framework (REF) undertaken by the funding councils.

Research intensity

A measure of the proportion of staff involved in research, based on recent REF HESA data.

Graduate prospects

This measures how successful graduates are in finding employment or furthering their studies on completing their first degree, as well as the proportion of graduates who agree they are on track with their future plans. The data comes from a survey done 15 months after the students graduate.

Student-staff ratio

A measure of the average staffing level in the university, calculated based on recent HESA data for 2021–2022.

Academic services spend

How much a university spends per student on all academic services - including library and computing services, museums and observatories—with HESA data coming from 2019–2020, 2020–2021 and 2021–2022.

Facilities spend

How much a university spends per student on staff and student facilities, based on HESA data from 2019–2020, 2020–2021 and 2021–2022.

Continuation

The metric tracks the proportion of students who continue in their studies after the first year.

CUG’s best universities in the UK 2025

Here are the top 20 UK universities ranked by CUG.

Rank

University

1

University of Cambridge

2

University of Oxford

3

London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE)

4

University of St Andrews

5

Imperial College London

6

Loughborough University

7

Durham University

8

University of Bath

9

University College London (UCL)

=10

University of Warwick

=10

Lancaster University

12

University of Surrey

13

University of Birmingham

14

University of Exeter

15

University of Edinburgh

16

University of Bristol

17

University of York

18

University of Sheffield

19

University of Liverpool

20

University of Southampton

How to use rankings to decide where to study

Rankings like the Complete University Guide offer valuable insights into an institution’s entry standards, student satisfaction, graduate prospects and research quality, with CUG focusing only on the UK. However, rankings are only one aspect of your decision—there are other game-changing factors that should be considered, such as cost, career opportunities, location and your personal goals.

Let an education expert from IDP, a global leader in study abroad placement, guide you for free to find the best UK university for you. If you’re ready to chase your dreams, hit the button below and we’ll help you get to a top institution in the UK.


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