University is an enormous financial, effort and time commitment, and choosing one that is the right fit for you - and your future aspirations - isn’t always easy.
It has now been a few weeks since this year’s A Level results day, where sixth form leavers hoping to head off to university this month found out whether they had achieved the grades they needed to land any conditional offers - or whether they’d have to navigate Clearing. This process is still ongoing, and for most institutions, freshers week is now mere weeks away.
Whether you’re in Clearing, weighing up an offer to accept, or you’re a prospective student looking ahead for next year, there are all sorts of factors to consider when it comes to making a final decision on where to study. That is why browsing a range of university league tables, each of which compare them based on different metrics, can be so useful - whether it be a local one like The Guardian or The Sunday Times lists, or an international one like U.S. News & World Report.
UK-based higher education analytics company Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) is one of the firms that publishes an annual global university ranking, one of the most highly-viewed in the world. It uses a detailed methodology which it says is “based on a variety of factors that matter to students”, covering everything from the university’s academic reputation, to employment outcomes for recent graduates, to the university’s global engagement - and even takes its sustainability into consideration.
Its newest global top 100 universities list for the upcoming 2026 academic year is out now, and has already been searched by more than 10 million prospective students and other curious browsers. We’ve taken a closer look at which universities from the dozens dotted right across the UK made the top 100, including one high-scoring institution which managed to land second place.
Here were all 17 of the UK universities that made the list:
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1. Imperial College London
The capital’s Imperial College was the most highly ranked UK university on the list. It came in 2nd overall – just after the United States’ Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). QS gave it an overall score of 99.4 out of 100. | Adobe Stock
2. University of Oxford
Next up is the prestigious namesake university of the city of Oxford, in England’s South East. It came in 4th place overall, with a score of 97.9 out of 100. | Photo: Carl Court/Getty Images
3. University of Cambridge
The other half of the esteemed Oxbridge duo was the UK’s third most highly ranked university. It’s based in Cambridge, in the East of England. It placed 6th overall, with a score of 97.2 out of 100. | (Photo by JUSTIN TALLIS/AFP via Getty Images)
4. University College London
Also known as UCL, this is another London-based institution. It placed 9th overall, with a score of 95.8 out of 100. | Google