The best (and worst) Russell Group universities for 2027 revealed in the Guardian’s ranking

The Guardian University Guide 2027 is out, and many of the UK’s Russell Group universities ranked lower than expected. Here is a closer look at which Russell Group universities performed the best (and the worst) in this year’s league table.

The 12 worst Russell Group universities now, according to the Guardian

The absolute worst of the 24 Russell Group universities in 2027 is Newcastle University, according to the Guardian. Newcastle University ranked 82nd out of 123 universities. seems to have lost points over student satisfaction. The Guardian only scored it 84.7 out of 100 for how satisfied students were with their teaching, and 74.4 out of 100 for how satisfied they were with feedback.

The second-worst Russell Group university to study at in 2027 is apparently Queen Mary University of London. This uni came 54th in the league table – although, that’s 18 places higher than last year.

Both the University of Liverpool and the University of York fell down eight positions from last year’s ranking.

Students at the University of Liverpool

Here are the 12 Russell Group universities which performed the worst in The Guardian University Guide 2027, along with the position they ranked in, and their score out of 100:

82. Newcastle University – scored 51.1

54. Queen Mary University of London – scored 56.0

51. University of Nottingham – scored 56.5

46. University of York – scored 57.4

=43. Cardiff University – scored 58.0

=43. Queen’s University Belfast – scored 58.0

30. University of Liverpool – scored 61.6

26. University of Leeds – scored 63.4

21. University of Glasgow – scored 64.3

20. University of Manchester – scored 64.4

19. King’s College London (KCL)

18. University of Southampton – scored 65.2

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These are the best Russell Group universities for 2027

Christ Church at the University of Oxford

According to the Guardian, the best Russell Group university (and the best university in the UK) is the University of Oxford. This is the third year in a row that Oxford has been top. Oxford also received the highest score for how satisfied students are with the teaching (96.3 out of 100), and had the best ratio of students to staff. The university only has nine students for each full-time equivalent staff member.

So, here are the 12 best Russell Group universities in the Guardian’s rankings, the position they ranked in and their score out of 100:

16. University of Exeter – scored 67.7

15. University of Sheffield – scored 69.9

14. University of Birmingham – scored 70.3

13. University College London (UCL) – scored 70.5

12. University of Bristol – scored 70.7

University of Bristol students in their kitchen

11. University of Edinburgh – scored 70.8

7. University of Warwick – scored 81.5

6. Durham University – scored 85.1

5. Imperial College London – scored 89.7

3. London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) – scored 96.8

2. University of Cambridge – scored 97.7

1. University of Oxford – scored 100

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