The Russell Group unis with the worst dropout rates in 2025, revealed

We all contemplate quitting uni at least once a week (usually when you have a 9am on Thursday after sports night on Wednesday). But each year, lots of students do actually drop out of university, even at the fancy Russell Group unis. Here are the Russell Group unis with the highest drop out rates, according to The Guardian University Ranking 2025.

Oxbridge doesn’t just have the lowest drop out rates of Russell Group unis. The University of Cambridge and the University of Oxford have the lowest drop out rates of all the unis in the UK. Presumably this is because people work so hard to get into Oxbridge that they’re scared to leave.

At the other end, the Russell Group uni with the biggest drop out rate in 2025 is Queen’s University Belfast. Now, Queen’s takes on between 4,000 to 4,300 freshers each year. So, about 248 to 267 students tend to give up before first year. Cardiff University and King’s College London weren’t too far behind.

Fyi, the drop out rates are based on the percentage of first-year students who don’t carry onto the second year of uni. It’s likely many more students than this dropout sometime in second year.

So, here are the Russell Group unis ranked by the drop out rates:

24. University of Cambridge – 1.0 per cent drop out rate

23. University of Oxford – 2.0 per cent drop out rate

22. Durham University – 2.5 per cent drop out rate

21. University of Edinburgh – 2.9 per cent drop out rate

=19. University of Bristol – 3.4 per cent drop out rate

Bristol students tend to stick around

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=19. London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) – 3.4 per cent drop out rate

18. University College London (UCL) – 3.6 per cent drop out rate

17. University of Warwick – 3.7 per cent drop out rate

=15. University of Manchester – 3.8 per cent drop out rate

=15. University of Exeter – 3.8 per cent drop out rate

=12. University of Leeds – 4.0 per cent drop out rate

=12. University of Birmingham – 4.0 per cent drop out rate

=12. University of York – 4.0 per cent drop out rate

11. University of Liverpool – 4.1 per cent drop out rate

=9. University of Nottingham – 4.3 per cent drop out rate

=9. University of Sheffield – 4.3 per cent drop out rate

8. Imperial College London – 4.4 per cent drop out rate

=6. Queen Mary University of London – 4.7 per cent drop out rate

=6. Newcastle University – 4.7 per cent drop out rate

5. University of Southampton – 4.9 per cent drop out rate

4. University of Glasgow – 5.3 per cent drop out rate

=2. King’s College London – 5.5 per cent drop out rate

=2. Cardiff University – 5.5 per cent drop out rate

1. Queen’s University Belfast – 6.2 per cent drop out rate

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