The Daily Mail rank Durham University at 16th in new national university league table

The Daily Mail released their 2025 U.K. university rankings on Thursday, with Durham coming in at a relatively low position of 16th.

Universities such as Strathclyde, Dundee, Sheffield and Loughborough were ranked higher than Durham by The Daily Mail.

The ranking criteria used by The Daily Mail were: Teaching excellence, student support, student experience, first year completion, high-skilled jobs, graduate salaries, research quality, research income, first generation students, 1:1 and 2:1 degrees, career on track and UCAS tariff points. These criteria are not all equally weighted, with high-skilled jobs taking up the highest proportion at 15 per cent and a handful of others representing 5 per cent of the score.

Unless specified otherwise, ranking positions include all 129 universities in the U.K. and Northern Ireland.

Durham scored particularly well for first year completion percentage (6th), UCAS tariff points (9th), graduate salaries (10th) and high-skilled jobs (11th). The average Durham graduate salary was recorded as £31,000.

However, Durham struggled in many aspects such as the proportion of first-generation students (125th), student support (93rd), student experience (92nd) and research income (41st). 23.2 per cent of Durham students are first-generation, with just Cambridge, Oxford and St. Andrews recording a lower proportion.

Durham performed well in most academic disciplines, placing first in the country for human geography and theology. Many other degrees such as marketing, history, anthropology, politics and accounting were also ranked in the top three.

Durham’s lowest academic ranking came in sports and exercise science, where it placed 42nd out of 72 courses. Durham also recorded relatively low rankings in chemistry (13th/46) and classics (8th/21).

Despite the low ranking of sports and exercise science, Durham was ranked as the third best sports university in the country on the basis of points received in British Universities and Colleges Sport (BUCS) in the 2023/24 season, with just Loughborough and Nottingham achieving more points.

The Daily Mail dubbed Durham University as “the darling of the independent school sector, taking comfortably the highest proportion of privately educated students at any British university”. The report found 49.5 per cent of students come from non-selective state schools, with grammar schools taking up 12.2 per cent of students and private schools providing 38.3 per cent of Durham students.

Comparatively, 29.6 per cent of Oxford students, 28.2 per cent of Exeter students and 26.9 per cent of Cambridge students were educated privately.

The report shines a light on progress made by Durham University by acknowledging that it is “working hard to dispel its elitist image”. It also recognises a rise in the number of black students, students coming from postcodes with low participation in university and an appraisal of the support system designed for autistic students. Nonetheless, it suggests that “it is a long road ahead for Durham”.

Durham University responded to The Daily Mail with the following statement:

“We will deliver a step change in widening access and participation, boosting the proportion of our students coming from under-represented or less advantaged backgrounds, as well as engaging actively with younger learners in regional schools and colleges”.

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