Durham University has risen one place in the Guardian University Guide 2026 into fifth place, pipped only by Oxford, St Andrews, Cambridge and LSE.
This ranking continues a strong run of results for the University, who have found themselves in the top five of both the Complete University Guide and Sunday Times Good University Guide in the last year to date. Durham excelled in a number of subjects, indicative of its widely-held status as one of the finest universities in the country.
The University were only outright leaders in one subject; Theology and Religious Studies. They got a perfect and elusive 100 Guardian Score and led runners-up Oxford by 4.1 points in this regard. They were also ranked as the pick of the country’s Theology departments by the Complete University Guide earlier this year.
View this post on Instagram
The University were ranked second best in the country for English and Biology trailing Oxford and Cambridge respectively in those two disciplines.
After having had one first place ranking and two second place rankings, the pattern continues in a satisfying fashion as the University ranked third in three fields of study. For Accounting and Finance, they trailed Warwick and Bath. In Marketing and Public Relations, they were beaten only by Plymouth and Derby. Meanwhile, for Criminology, only UCL and Loughborough got the better of them.
View this post on Instagram
Outside of the podium positions, Durham had a strong showing across the board with 16 subjects ranked in the top five and a further nine ranked in the top 10. This includes a fourth placed Law School behind LSE and joint runners-up Oxford and Cambridge.
