The Russell Group unis which are letting in the least disabled students

It’s not exactly news in 2025 that university is tougher for students with disabilities. Sadly, the number of disabled students at the extra prestigious Russell Group unis is still way lower than you’d think.

24 per cent of the UK’s population has a disability, according to the Department for Work and Pensions. The percentage of students at Russell Group unis with a disability is way, way less than this.

As part of The Times’s Complete University Guide 2025, the paper analysed the percentage of disabled students at all the UK unis. The number of students with a disability also varies wildly between different Russell Group unis. There are almost five times as many disabled students at the University of Sheffield than there are at the University of Southampton.

The Times didn’t include data on disability in its league tables for Scottish and Irish unis, so the numbers for the University of Edinburgh, the University of Glasgow and the Queen’s University Belfast come from the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA).  We wouldn’t want these unis to feel left out.

This data refers to the percentage of students at that university who get support from the Disabled Students Allowance. So, there are likely many more students at these unis who identify as having a disability but didn’t sign up to the DSA.

So, here are all the Russell Group unis ranked by how many students are disabled.

24. University of Sheffield – 10.8 per cent

23. University of Oxford – 10.3 per cent

That one famous building at Oxford looking vibey

22. University of Exeter – 8.7 per cent

21. University of Manchester – 8.3 per cent

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All the Russell Group unis which are dramatically dropping in student numbers

20. University of York – 7.8 per cent

19. University of Bristol – 7.3 per cent

18. University of Nottingham – 7.2 per cent

17. University of Liverpool – 7.1 per cent

=15.University of Warwick – 6.9 per cent

=15. King’s College London – 6.9 per cent

14. University of Leeds – 6.7 per cent

13. Durham University – 6.5 per cent

12. University of Birmingham – 6.2 per cent

11. Newcastle University – 5.8 per cent

=9. University of Edinburgh – 5.7 per cent

=9. Cardiff University – 5.7 per cent

8. The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) – 5.4 per cent

7. University College London (UCL) – 5.2 per cent

(Credit: Emily Manock)

=5. University of Cambridge – 5.0 per cent

=5. Queen Mary University of London – 5.0 per cent

4. Queen’s University Belfast – 4.4 per cent

3. Imperial College London – 3.3 per cent

2. University of Glasgow – 3.1 per cent

1. University of Southampton – 2.3 per cent

Featured image of the University of Glasgow by Michael D Beckwith via CreativeCommons.