It’s official: These 30 universities are crawling with the most private school students in 2024

If you’re desperate to befriend a uni student with a holiday house, then we’ve got you covered. Here are the 30 UK unis with the most private school students in 2024.

As part of the new Good University Guide from The Times and The Sunday Times, the papers worked out what percentage of students at different UK unis went to independent schools. The Times explains how it gathered all the data for its league tables here.

People are drawn to Russell Group unis for their prestige and poshness, so it’s not exactly a shock that many of them are dominated by private school students. 21 out of the 30 unis with the most private school students are Russell Group universities. The University of Liverpool and Cardiff University have far less private school students than other unis, so are good places to go if you want to avoid the Tarquins and Tatianas of the world.

The UK unis with the least state school students is the Royal Agricultural University in Gloucestershire. A massive 39.5 per cent of students there went to private school.

Durham is living up to its reputation as being a dumping ground for posh teenagers who weren’t clever enough to get into Oxbridge. A huge 39.1 per cent of Durham students went to private schools. According to Government data, 6.5 per cent of UK schoolchildren went to private schools in January 2024. So, the percentage of private school students at Durham is six times that. If you’re starting at Durham this year, then you’d better buy a lacrosse stick and a set of Le Creuset casserole dishes.

So, here are the UK unis with the most students who went to private school in 2024:

30. University of Liverpool – 12.1 per cent

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29. Cardiff University – 12.2 per cent

28. University of Aberdeen – 12.3 per cent

27. University of Southampton – 12.5 per cent

26. University of Reading – 12.6 per cent

25. University of Glasgow – 13.2 per cent

24. Harper Adams University – 13.3 per cent

23. University of York – 13.4 per cent

22. University of Birmingham – 14.2 per cent

Signing up for the riding society in Freshers’ Week does not exactly scream ‘I went to state school!’

21. University of Manchester – 16.3 per cent

20. University of Leeds – 17.4 per cent

19. University of Nottingham – 18.0 per cent

18. King’s College London – 18.0 per cent

17. Loughborough University – 18.7 per cent

16. University of Warwick – 19.8 per cent

15. Newcastle University – 22.3 per cent

14. University of Buckingham – 24.0 per cent

13. Oxford Brookes University – 24.0 per cent

12. University of Bristol – 24.6 per cent

11. London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) – 26.0 per cent

10. University of Bath – 29.2 per cent

9. University of Cambridge – 28.2 per cent

8. University College London (UCL) – 29.5 per cent

7. University of Exeter – 30.3 per cent

6. University of Oxford – 31.4 per cent

5. University of Edinburgh – 31.8 per cent

4. Imperial College London – 33.0 per cent

3. University of St Andrews – 36.0 per cent

2. Durham University – 39.1 per cent

1. Royal Agricultural University – 39.5 per cent

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