The best (and worst) ranked Russell Group unis in the Guardian University Guide 2026

Roll up, roll up. The Guardian University Guide 2026 is out, so you can see which Russell Group unis are the best and the worst.

Unsurprisingly, Oxbridge are still the best-ranked Russell Group unis. Although, the Guardian actually put the University of St Andrews above the University of Cambridge. St Andrews students were more satisfied with the feedback they got from teachers, and this pushed the uni up in the rankings. I’m sensing Cam students won’t be too pleased with that.

Plenty of other Russell Group unis are up there with Oxbridge, including Durham University, Imperial College London, and the University of Warwick. The University of Birmingham managed to shoot up eight places in the league table. The uni ranked 36th last year, but 28th this year. Yay for Brum students.

Although the Russell Group unis are supposed to be the 24 most prestigious unis in the UK or whatever, plenty of them really flopped in the Guardian’s rankings this year. Two Russell Group unis didn’t even make it into the top 50 unis in the UK. University of Nottingham students may be unimpressed to learn their uni is now legit ranked 25 places below Nottingham Trent University.

At least Nottingham Uni looks nice?

Newcastle University plummeted 18 whole places down the league tables. It ranked 63rd last year, but 81st this year. Newcastle has officially overtaken Queen Mary University of London as the worst Russell Group uni (according to the Guardian, anyway). Newcastle students were less satisfied with their feedback and assessments than pupils at other Russell Group unis were.

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So, here is exactly where every Russell Group uni ranked in the Guardian University Guide 2026, from worst to best:

81. Newcastle University

72. Queen Mary University of London

50. University of Nottingham

45. Queen’s University Belfast

38. University of York

37. Cardiff University

36. University of Manchester

=28. University of Leeds

Meh, who cares about your uni’s rank when you have the Otley Run?

=28. University of Birmingham

24. University of Glasgow

=21. University of Liverpool

=21. King’s College London (KCL)

20. University of Southampton

17. University of Exeter

16. University of Sheffield

15. University of Bristol

Bristol students post-night out

13. University of Edinburgh

10. University College London (UCL)

7. University of Warwick

6. Imperial College London

5. Durham University

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

3. University of Cambridge

1. University of Oxford

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