Cambridge tops UK university league tables for 10th year running

Medicine showed an upsurge in interest because of the coronavirus pandemic

The Centre for Strategic Philanthropy has been established at Cambridge University's Judge Business School. Image: Visit Cambridge & Beyond

The University of Cambridge was ranked the best in Britain for the 10th year in a row, figures released on Tuesday show.

It was closely followed by its rival, the University of Oxford, in the Complete University Guide league tables for 2020-2021.

Scotland’s University of St Andrews was ranked third, followed by London School of Economics and Imperial College London.

Top 10 universities in the UK. Source: Complete University Guide

There was very little movement in the top 10 from last year but the most significant climb in the high rankings is Kings College London, which this year rose five places to break into the top 20.

It was a strong year across the board for Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales, with many of their universities overtaking English institutions in subjects including medicine and accounting and finance.

The top-tier Russell Group universities had a less successful year overall, with fewer major climbers compared to the period after 1992 and specialist universities.

Medicine has always been popular but there has been increased interest after the coronavirus pandemic.

The universities of Dundee and Glasgow topped the table for medicine, followed by Oxford, marking a successful run for Scottish institutions.

The latest rankings for the course were also among the most turbulent, with considerable movement up and down and the addition of Buckingham as a new entry.

Despite its success in the overall tables, Cambridge fell five places to rank seventh for medicine.

Other medical-related courses have had more interest.

Nursing has had a considerable increase in popularity, probaby because of the pandemic and the reintroduction in England of the NHS bursary for nursing and other allied health professionals as of this September.

England again seems to have been outperformed by other nations in the UK for nursing courses.

Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales have most of the big climbers and hold the top three table positions.

Glasgow and Edinburgh retain first and second places, while Cardiff University climbed nine places to rank third.

“Congratulations to the University of Cambridge, who have maintained their position at the top of the table for a decade," said Simon Emmett, chief executive of IDP Connect, which owns the university guide.

“It’s been interesting to see changes at regional, national and subject levela this year.

"We’ve seen a big increase in interest in courses related to medicine, making the changes in those already popular tables particularly significant this year.”