Ranked: Russell Group unis by teaching quality reviews – UCL top, Oxford and Cambridge absent

UCL and Imperial are the highest-ranked Russell Group universities for teaching quality in StudentCrowd’s latest rankings, with Oxford, Cambridge, Manchester and King’s College London failing to appear in the top 20.

The top 20 universities in the StudentCrowd University Awards are decided by verified student reviews, based entirely on real experiences from students currently studying at UK universities, rather than institutional data or reputation.

Among the top 20 were 11 Russell Group universities, with UCL taking second place overall. The highest-ranked university overall was Ulster University, a non-Russell Group institution.

Notable non-Russell Group universities that outranked several Russell Group institutions include the University of Staffordshire at sixth and Cardiff Metropolitan at eighth, both placing above Birmingham, Sheffield and Durham.

Oxford, Cambridge, Manchester and KCL did not appear in the top 20.

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Here are all 11 Russell Group universities that made the top 20 in the StudentCrowd University Awards 2026, ranked by their position in the overall top 20. Nine non-Russell Group universities also featured in the top 20.

1. University College London (UCL) — rank two, score 4.42/5
2. Imperial College London — rank three, score 4.40/5
3. Queen’s University Belfast — rank four, score 4.40/5
4. University of Glasgow — rank five, score 4.39/5
5. University of Warwick — rank seven, score 4.37/5
6. University of Birmingham — rank 10, score 4.36/5
7. University of Sheffield — rank 12, score 4.35/5
8. University of Liverpool — rank 13, score 4.34/5
9. Durham University — rank 14, score 4.33/5
10. London School of Economics (LSE) — rank 15, score 4.33/5
11. University of Exeter — rank 19, score 4.30/5

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Featured image before edits via Nikolai Karaneschev under Creative Commons Attribution 3.0