The UK’s academic reputation is world-renowned. Built on a heritage that is now centuries old, our approach to education applies the very latest learning theory through universities that routinely top international tables.
World-ranked universities
UK universities have featured strongly in world rankings ever since they began. In 2018 the Times Higher Education World Rankings honoured us with three of the world’s top ten universities, including the top two – the University of Oxford and the University of Cambridge. This high quality can be found right across the country, with seven of the top 50, and 32 of the top 200 universities found here in the UK.
Quality that’s government-guaranteed
The UK’s 162 higher education institutions are all held to strict standards by the government, so you know you are getting the best teaching, support and resources available.
A full list of 'recognised bodies' - universities and colleges that can award degrees – is published every year, to make it easy for students to see the comparative quality on offer up and down the country – and ensure they’re qualification will have credibility overseas.
The Register of Regulated Qualifications contains details of Recognised Awarding Organisations and Regulated Qualifications in England (Ofqual), Wales (Welsh Government) and Northern Ireland (Ofqual for vocational qualifications and CCEA Accreditation for all other qualifications). For Scottish qualifications, please visit the Scottish Credit and Qualifications Framework website.
World-leading research
The consistently high quality of education in the UK has made us a firm favourite with international students all over the world, and helped to keep us at the forefront of global research.
We’re ranked second in the world for science and research and 54 per cent of our output is world-leading. Our field-weighted citation impact is higher than the US, Canada, Germany, Japan and Brazil, so when you study here you can be sure you’ll be working alongside some of the best minds – and using some of the best technology- in the world.