The 20 worst unis the UK has to offer, based on The Times University Guide for 2026

Never mind which of Oxbridge is better, or whether Imperial College London is cooler, or how St Andrews is now considered an important uni. The Times and The Sunday Times’s new university ranking also includes plenty of data on the absolute worst UK unis to study at in 2026. Perhaps these aren’t the ones to apply for right now x

The absolute worst uni in the UK is apparently the Royal Agricultural University. It ranked bottom of all 130 UK unis in The Times and The Sunday Times Good University Guide 2026. Awks. The Times gave it a pretty embarrassing 289 points out of a potential 1,000. The uni scored especially poorly for teaching quality, student experience and graduate prospects.

Quite a few other unis also had a bad time in The Times’s league table this year. The University of Buckingham managed to drop 14 whole places in just one year, and is now the third-worst uni in the UK. The Uni of Buckingham received the lowest score for student experience out of any UK uni. Erm, are you alright guys?

The worst Russell Group uni according to The Times, by the way, is Queen Mary University of London. It still fared leagues better in the rankings than any uni on this list, though.

The Times comes up with all these scores by using data on how happy students are with their teaching and what the careers prospects of grads are like.

So, here are the 20 worst unis in the UK, according to  The Times and The Sunday Times Good University Guide 2026:

20. London South Bank University – scored 440

19. York St John University – scored 439

18. Birmingham City University – scored 434

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At least Birmingham has plenty of bars?

17. University of East London – scored 433

16. University of Westminster – scored 425

15. Middlesex University – scored 422

14. Brunel University of London – scored 413

=12. University of Bedfordshire – scored 403

=12. University of Northampton – scored 403

The shiny new Waterside Campus at Northampton Uni
(Credit: FemmeIncomprise)

11. Buckinghamshire New University – scored 394

10. University of Wolverhampton – scored 393

9. Wrexham University – scored 391

8. Anglia Ruskin University – scored 383

=6. London Metropolitan University – scored 376

=6. University of Roehampton – scored 376

Well, Roehampton might have a rubbish ranking this year, but it does have a nice lake
(Credit: AndyScott)

5. University of Greater Manchester – scored 363

4. University for the Creative Arts (UCA) – 357

3. University of Buckingham – scored 356

2. University of Cumbria – scored 322

1. Royal Agricultural University – scored 289