The Guardian University Guide 2026 is here and a rogue uni beat the University of Cambridge

The Guardian University Guide 2026 is out today, and a pretty unexpected uni beat the University of Cambridge in the rankings.

Nobody will be shocked that the University of Oxford is ranked as the best university in the UK in the Guardian University Guide. The Guardian put Oxford top of its league table last year, too. But the University of St Andrews came second, ahead of the University of Cambridge. St Andrews isn’t actually a Russell Group uni, so this is pretty surprising. Lots of students at St Andrews said they were happy with their teaching, which bumped the uni up in the rankings.

The University of the Arts London (UAL) actually made it into the top ten. This is so rogue. This uni only came 33rd in the Complete University Guide this year. In those rankings, it got the ninth worst score for graduate jobs prospects out of 130 UK unis. But the uni is really thriving in the Guardian’s league tables this year.

UAL is made up of six different colleges, including the Chelsea College of Art and Design
(Credit: Entangle)

The University of Bath is the other uni outside the Russell Group to make it into the top ten. Bath isn’t as famous as some of the other unis at the top. But it’s done really well in different uni rankings this year, including the Daily Mail’s and the Complete University Guide.  The University of Bath is really great at helping students find grad jobs. Yay for them.

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The Guardian comes up with all these rankings by using data about lots of factors, such as how satisfied students are with their teaching, how many students drop out, and what students do after graduating.

So, here are the ten best UK unis right now, according to the The Guardian University Guide 2026:

10. University College London (UCL)

9. University of the Arts London (UAL)

8. University of Bath

7. University of Warwick

Real life Warwick Uni students

6. Imperial College London

5. Durham University

4. The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE)

3. University of Cambridge

2. University of St Andrews

1. University of Oxford

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