Complete University Guide reveals its top UK universities 2018

The University of Cambridge has maintained its first place position in the Complete University Guide 2018

April 26 2017
By Seeta Bhardwa
Bridge of Sighs at St John's College, Cambridge

Compare the results with the THE World University Rankings 2016-2017

The University of Cambridge has maintained its number one position in the Complete University Guide’s 2018 ranking of the top universities in the UK.

The universities in the top 10 have remained unchanged from last year’s table, although a few of them have changed positions. While the University of Oxford stays second, the University of St Andrews has taken third place, up from fifth position last year. University College London has climbed three places to seventh, while Loughborough University has fallen three places to 10th. The other institutions in the top 10 are: London School of Economics and Political Science (4), Imperial College London (5), Durham University (6), University of Warwick (8) and Lancaster University (9).

For 2018, the Complete University Guide has ranked 129 universities compared with 127 universities in last year's ranking. The two new universities to enter the table in 2018 are Birkbeck, University of London (115) and the University of Suffolk (129).

Looking outside the top 10, the University of Nottingham and the University of Bristol are new entries in the top 20 in 2018, and two universities have dropped out of the top 20 (the University of Edinburgh and the University of Southampton).

The highest climber in this year's table is the University of West London, which jumped 26 places from 108 to 80. The university that experienced the biggest fall was De Montfort University, which fell 28 places from 54th to 82nd. 

The Complete University Guide 2018 top 50 universities

Institution 2018 rank 2017 rank Change
University of Cambridge 1 1 0
University of Oxford 2 2 0
University of St Andrews 3 5 2
London School of Economics and Political Science 4 3 -1
Imperial College London 5 4 -1
Durham University 6 6 0
University College London 7 10 3
University of Warwick 8 8 0
Lancaster University  9 9 0
Loughborough University 10 7 -3
University of Bath  11 11 0
University of East Anglia 12 14 2
University of Surrey  13 11 -2
University of Exeter  =14 13 -1
University of Leeds  =14 16 2
University of Birmingham 16 15 -1
University of Bristol  17 24 7
University of Nottingham  18 21 3
University of Sussex  19 18 -1
University of York 20 20 0
King's College London 21 21 0
University of Manchester  22 25 3
University of Edinburgh  =23 19 -4
Newcastle University  =23 25 2
University of Kent  25 23 -2
University of Southampton  =26 17 -9
University of Reading  =26 27 1
Heriot-Watt University  28 34 6
University of Dundee  29 35 6
University of Leicester 30 32 2
University of Sheffield 31 27 -4
University of Essex 32 41 11
Queen Mary University of London 33 31 -2
Royal Holloway, University of London 34 37 3
Queen's University Belfast 35 33 -2
University of Glasgow =36 29 -7
Cardiff University =36 35 -1
Soas, University of London 38 43 5
University of Stirling  39 39 0
University of Aberdeen 40 42 2
University of Liverpool 41 38 -3
City, University London  42 40 -2
Coventry University 43 50 7
University of Strathclyde =44 48 4
Swansea University =44 45 1
Harper Adams University 46 46 0
Brunel University London 47 52 5
Keele University 48 46 -2
Aston University  49 30 -19
Lincoln University  50 49 -1

The full list can be found here.

Read more:

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THE Student Experience Survey 2017 results

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