Imperial named UK’s best university

Imperial College London is ranked top of a new league table of UK universities.

Imperial has also been named University of the Year in the league table, published by the Daily Mail, and is praised for its "sustained excellence in all areas” alongside its commitment to social inclusion, including generous bursary support. 

I’m so proud of Imperial’s world-changing educational and research environment. It is a truly inspiring place where students and staff from so many different backgrounds and nationalities are warmly welcomed and work passionately together Professor Hugh Brady President of Imperial College London

The result follows a string of successes for the university. Earlier this year, Imperial was recognised as one of the world’s top universities, coming sixth in the QS World University Rankings for 2024. Imperial was also placed among the world’s top 10 universities in The Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2023 and was named University of the Year by  last year's Guardian University Guide 2023.  

Imperial also recently saw its best-ever results in the UK’s Research Excellence Framework (REF), as well as strong results in the most recent National Student Survey, where Imperial ranked second place among all Russell Group institutions nationally for teaching. 

Professor Hugh Brady, President of Imperial College London, said: "I’m so proud of Imperial’s world-changing educational and research environment. It is a truly inspiring place where students and staff from so many different backgrounds and nationalities are warmly welcomed and work passionately together to create a healthier, smarter, safer, more prosperous and more sustainable world."

Camille Boutrolle, President of Imperial College Union, said: "I am most inspired at Imperial by the genuine intellectual curiosity that students from all sorts of backgrounds and cultures share. The community of passion and innovation fostered here makes Imperial a really special place to study."

The Guardian also released The Guardian University Guide league tables today, in which Imperial ranked fifth in the UK.

About Imperial

Imperial College London is one of the world's leading universities. The College's 22,000 students and 8,000 staff are working to solve the biggest challenges in science, medicine, engineering and business.  

Founded in 1907, Imperial builds on a distinguished past – having pioneered penicillin, holography and fibre optics – to shape the future. Imperial researchers work across disciplines to improve health and wellbeing, understand the natural world, engineer novel solutions and lead the data revolution. This blend of academic excellence and its real-world application feeds into Imperial’s exceptional learning environment, where students participate in research to push the limits of their degrees. 

Imperial has a greater proportion of world-leading research than any other UK university, according to the Research Excellence Framework (REF). Imperial ranks first in the UK for research outputs, first in the UK for research environment, and first for research impact among Russell Group universities. 

World changing educational and research environment.  

Alastair McCall, Editor, Daily Mail University Guide, said: “The No 1 university in the inaugural Daily Mail University Ranking, Imperial College London was a unanimous choice as the Daily Mail University of the Year. Finishing above Oxford and Cambridge in a domestic university ranking is a rare feat, although it is a surprise that Imperial has never done it before, such is its sustained excellence in all areas.  

“It is the top university for research quality based on last year’s Research Assessment Framework, the top university for the proportion of graduates getting highly skilled jobs, and joint top for graduate salaries. It turns out thousands of graduates each year in areas of national shortage – science, technology, maths, medicine, engineering – and frequently leads national debate in areas within its range of interests; explaining the numbers behind the Covid pandemic being a prominent recent example.   

“Academic excellence is allied to a commitment to social inclusion. Imperial makes places available to as wide an audience as possible and offers financial support to students from homes with up to £70,000 income, comfortably the highest threshold for bursary support of any UK university. It has also turned around its performance in the annual National Student Survey (NSS) in recent years, making the top 20 nationally in two of the Daily Mail’s NSS analyses this year, as part of its commitment to providing the best possible student experience.”  

The Daily Mail University Guide supplement will be published with the Mail on Sunday 10 September.