Ranked: All 24 Russell Group unis in QS employability rankings 2027 – Imperial and Oxbridge lead

Imperial, Oxford and Cambridge top the QS 2027 employer reputation rankings with a perfect score of 100 – but Durham, despite scoring 94.7 for employer reputation, records just 52.7 for graduate employment outcomes.

The other top universities that are highly regarded by employers were London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) and University College London (UCL) with a joint score of 99.7.

Employer Reputation measures how highly universities are regarded by employers globally. Employment Outcomes measures whether graduates are actually in work within 15 months of leaving. The two metrics can diverge significantly.

Durham has the largest gap of any Russell Group university between employer reputation and actual graduate employment — scoring 94.7 for how employers view it, but just 52.7 for whether graduates actually find work, a difference of 42 points.

By contrast, Cambridge and Oxford both score 100 for employer reputation and employment outcomes, meaning their graduates are as likely to find work as employers are to seek them out.

Edinburgh and Bristol show similar patterns – Edinburgh scores 98.4 for employer reputation but 63.1 for employment outcomes, a gap of 35 points, while Bristol scores 92.1 against 57.6, a gap of 34 points.

Here are all 24 Russell Group universities ranked by employer reputation, from highest to lowest, according to QS Employability Rankings 2027.

=1. Imperial College London – 100

=1. University of Cambridge – 100

=1. University of Oxford – 100

=4. London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) – 99.7

=4. University College London (UCL) – 99.7

6. University of Manchester – 98.5

7. University of Edinburgh – 98.4

8. Durham University – 94.7

9. University of Warwick – 94.1

10. King’s College London – 92.8

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11. University of Bristol – 92.1

12. University of Leeds – 83.2

13. University of Birmingham – 80.9

14. University of Nottingham – 77.3

15. University of Glasgow – 70.6

16. University of Sheffield – 68.1

17. University of Exeter – 61.1

18. Newcastle University – 58.9

19. Queen Mary University of London – 57.7

20. University of Southampton – 56.5

21. Cardiff University – 53.4

22. Queen’s University Belfast – 52.8

23. University of Liverpool – 52.4

24. University of York – 51.9

Durham’s vice-chancellor highlighted the university’s employer reputation score in response to the findings: “Employers rank us among the world’s top 50 universities, which is particularly important for our students and graduates, indicating the exceptional value that a Durham degree holds in equipping students for work and preparing them for career success.”

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Featured image via Unsplash