.jpeg?crop=3:2,smart&trim=&width=640&quality=70&enable=upscale)
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:
5. King's College London
King’s College is yet another London university. It came in 31st overall, with a score of 88.3 out of 100. | Google
.jpeg?crop=4:3&trim=&width=800)
6. University of Edinburgh
The first Scottish university to make the list, Edinburgh’s namesake school came in 34th overall. QS gave it a score of 87.2 out of 100. | Adobe Stock
7. University of Manchester
The University of Manchester, in the North West, was next. It came in 35th overall, with a score of 86.4 out of 100. | Google
8. University of Bristol
The South West’s University of Bristol was the eighth most high-ranked UK university on the list. It came in 51st overall, with a score of 82.5 out of 100. | Photo: Geoff Caddick/AFP via Getty Images.