Revealed: These are officially the Russell Group unis with the highest dropout rates in 2024

Surely at some point every student has sobbed from the stress of studying their subject, collapsed onto the carpet with a load of crisps, and contemplated putting an end to their suffering by dropping out. But how many students at Russell Group unis actually had the guts to admit defeat and become a dropout in 2024?

As part of The Guardian’s “The best UK universities 2025 – rankings” this year, The Guardian gathered data on what percentage of freshers make it through to second year. So, this info doesn’t factor in how many students defer the rest of their degrees to another year – a thing which some unis encourage struggling students to do instead of dropping out.

Dropout rates at Russell Group unis are generally quite low. There are 87 UK unis on The Guardian’s league table which have higher drop out rates than any Russell Group uni.

Oxford and Cambridge are the Russell Group unis with the lowest dropout rates in 2024. According to the data The Guardian had, just 1 per cent of Cambridge students give up on their degrees. Perhaps it’s so much effort to get into Oxbridge that people are too scared to drop out if they hate it.

Queen’s University Belfast has the highest drop out rate of any Russell Group uni. A massive 6.2 per cent of students didn’t finish their degrees. Who knows what they do to students over there?

So, here is every Russell Group uni ranked by the percentage of freshers who don’t make it to second year, from highest to lowest:

24. University of Cambridge – 1.0 per cent drop out

23. University of Oxford – 2.0 per cent drop out

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I suppose if you’ve gone through the effort of memorising a whole textbook for your Oxford interview, you’re less likely to leave
(Credit: Francesca Gunner)

22. Durham University – 2.5 per cent drop out

21. University of Edinburgh – 2.9 per cent drop out

=19. University of Bristol – 3.4 per cent drop out

=19. London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) – 3.4 per cent drop out

18. University College London (UCL) – 3.6 per cent drop out

17. University of Warwick – 3.7 per cent drop out

=15. University of Manchester – 3.8 per cent drop out

=15. University of Exeter – 3.8 per cent drop out

Maybe some freshers see how uninspiring the buildings at the main Exeter campus look and decide to go home?
(Credit: Francesca Gunner)

=12. University of Leeds – 4.0 per cent drop out

=12. University of Birmingham – 4.0 per cent drop out

=12. University of York – 4.0 per cent drop out

11. University of Liverpool – 4.1 per cent drop out

=9. University of Nottingham – 4.3 per cent drop out

=9. University of Sheffield – 4.3 per cent drop out

8. Imperial College London – 4.4 per cent drop out

=6. Queen Mary University of London – 4.7 per cent drop out

=6. Newcastle University – 4.7 per cent drop out

5. University of Southampton – 4.9 per cent drop out

4. University of Glasgow – 5.3 per cent drop out

=2. King’s College London – 5.5 per cent drop out

=2. Cardiff University – 5.5 per cent drop out

1. Queen’s University Belfast – 6.2 per cent drop out

Related articles recommended by this author:

• The best UK unis to study each subject at in 2024, according to The Guardian’s rankings
• The best 10 UK unis for nabbing a top grad job after uni in 2024, according to The Daily Mail
• These are the hardest UK unis to get into right now, based on how many UCAS points you need