The uni rich list: These are the UK unis producing the most billionaires

Uni rankings can often be quite worthy, using important-but-dull metrics like graduate employment, and “progression rates”.

These are fine if you’ve got your sights set on a normal life. But what if you will literally only settle for being a billionaire?

Well, then you need to know which UK universities produce the most billionaires.

1: London School of Economics, five billionaires

Makes sense given the name, doesn’t it. LSE’s most notable billionaires include Maths and Economics alum Michael Platt – Britain’s richest hedge fund owner – and Sebastian Kulczyk – the son of Poland’s richest man.

However, be warned – LSE’s billionaire count of five is down from 11 in 2014. It’s not been a good seven years for the billionaires of LSE.

2: University of Oxford, four billionaires

We’re going to focus on one Oxford billionaire alum: Alfred Oetker. His great-great grandfather was the actual Dr Oetker. It’s the prime Russell Group story, really: living off a combination of Ristorante pizzas and a rich family. The difference, of course, is that he’s worth about $2 billion and you’re not.

3: University of Cambridge, four billionaires

Cambridge will be sorely gutted to only come in at number three on this list. It’ll be cold comfort that their billionaires are the kind you’ve probably never heard of: Andrew Currie, John Reece, Mark Coombs.

4: University of Bradford, two billionaires

Telecoms tycoon Mo Ibrahim studied an MSc in Electronics and Electrical Engineering at Bradford. He then sold his telecoms company, Celtel, for $3.4 billion. Correlation, as they say, is always causation.

5: University of Wales, two billionaires

Whilst the University of Wales isn’t really a thing any more, it did produce two billionaires: Doug Perkins, the founder of Specsavers, and Terry Matthews, Wales’ first billionaire.

The pair actually went to Cardiff and Swansea respectively, way back when the two universities were part of the larger “University of Wales”.

Related stories recommended by this writer:

• These are the UK degrees with the highest percentage of white students

• The hardest degrees to get a first in, revealed

• It’s official: These are the hardest unis to get into in the UK