The Guardian University Guide 2026 has just dropped, and here’s where every London university ranked in it.
First off, to no one’s surprise, the University of Oxford beat the competition to defend the top spot with a perfect score of 100. St Andrews and Cambridge took second and third place, making these the first major 2026 uni rankings to have no London unis in the top three.
Of the 123 unis featured on the league table, 22 are in London, with four of the capital’s institutions making the top 10. So, here’s exactly where they all ranked, and how they scored out of a possible 100 points.
122. Westminster: 34.1
Falling a few places from last year’s ranking, Westminster took second-to-last place. Despite decent scores in teaching satisfaction and feedback satisfaction, it was let down by low marks in student-to-staff ratio, spend per student, and career prospects.
121. Middlesex: 36.1
Like Westminster, Middlesex fell down on student-to-staff ratio and career prospects, falling eight places from last year’s rankings.
120. Roehampton: 36.3
Narrowly beating Middlesex, Roehampton fell 10 places to take the 120th spot, with decent satisfaction scores but one of the worst student-to-staff ratios on the table.
119. Greenwich: 38.5
Greenwich via Pexels
Mass layoffs and a shock merger with the University of Kent haven’t affected Greenwich’s score much, with the uni falling two places to take 119th.
117. School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS): 39.5
Falling a considerable 27 places from last year’s 90th place ranking, SOAS students apparently haven’t been happy with their feedback this year, earning them the third lowest grade on the table for feedback satisfaction.
116. Brunel: 39.6
Brunel via Unsplash
Doing well in satisfaction-based categories, Brunel rose slightly from last year’s 120th place ranking. However, it earned the lowest mark on the table for value added score, which compares students’ degree results with their entry requirements to see how effectively they’re taught.
93. St Mary’s, Twickenham: 47.3
St Mary’s fell 18 places, but nevertheless made the top 100, with decent marks in student-to-staff ratio and career prospects making up for a very low spend per student score.
89. London Metropolitan: 48.4
Rising four places overall, London Met secured the joint-highest value added score on the table, despite lower marks in student-to-staff ratio and spend per student.
86. City St. George’s: 49.3
City St George’s via Google Maps
City St George’s fell a massive 48 places, achieving its lowest ranking since the 2024 merging of St George’s, previously known as one of the UK’s best medical schools, with City University of London.
79. Royal Holloway: 50.4
Low marks in the spend per student and value added score categories contributed to Royal Holloway’s fall from last year’s 52nd place ranking.
77. London South Bank: 51
London South Bank suffered an 18 place drop, despite scoring well in teaching satisfaction.
73. BNU: 52.3
Buckinghamshire New University ranked in the top 10 for teaching satisfaction, feedback satisfaction and spend per student, but fell down on its average entry tariff and career prospects.
72. QMUL: 52.6
Queen Mary’s managed to stay fairly consistent, rising two places from last year’s ranking .
67. Goldsmiths: 53.5
Goldsmiths via Google Maps
Rising an impressive 42 places to secure a spot in the top 100, Goldsmiths joined London Met in achieving the joint-highest value added score on the table.
54. Kingston: 55.8
Rising six places, Kingston achieved decent scores across the board, but fell down on spend per student and career prospects.
41. University of West London: 59
Despite falling 11 places, the University of West London stayed comfortably in the top 50, with high marks in teaching satisfaction, spend per student and value added score.
33. University of East London: 60.5
The University of East London rose 23 places to secure a spot in the top 50, with high satisfaction marks and a high value added score making up for its low spend per student.
21. King’s College London: 64.2
KCL via Pexels
King’s has been doing well in this year’s major uni league tables, and the Guardian is no exception: It jumped seven places, with a high spend per student and good career prospects.
10. UCL: 73.4
Falling one place from last year, UCL relied on great career prospects and a high average entry tariff to hang on to its top 10 spot, despite one of the lowest marks at the top of the table in the spend per student category – just 6.1 against Oxford’s mark of 10.
9. UAL: 73.9
UAL via Google Maps
UAL has been gradually climbing its way up the rankings in recent years, and has finally broken into the Guardian’s top 10, rising four places to push UCL down from its ninth-place spot. It achieved the second-highest score on the table for both student-to-staff ratio and spend per student, with decent scores across all other categories except career prospects, for which it fell to 10th lowest on the table.
6. Imperial: 82.8
No stranger to being at the top of the rankings, Imperial was pushed out of the top five by Durham. Regardless, it easily took the top spot in career prospects, and scored well across all other categories with the exception of feedback satisfaction, for which it scored second lowest on the table.
4. LSE: 93.8
LSE via Google Maps
Taking the top spot for London unis, to no one’s surprise, is the London School of Economics and Political Science. With standout scores in average entry tariff, continuation, student to staff ratio, spend per student, and the second-highest career prospects score after Imperial, LSE easily defended its fourth place spot.
Featured image via Google Maps
