The London School of Economics has been ranked as the number one university in the UK for the first time, according to The Times and Sunday Times Good University Guide.
LSE moved up three places in the 2025 guide, overtaking Oxford, Cambridge and St Andrews.
It is one of three London-based universities in the top ten, with Imperial College London and University College London moving down a place each.
LSE has also taken the University of the Year award, which is given to “local and global powerhouses of intellectual thought and creativity.”
It replaces UCL as University of the Year, marking the second year in a row that a London university has taken this accolade.
Imperial College, which won the quiz programme University Challenge for the fifth time this year, was named University of the Year for Graduate Employment, with LSE finishing runner-up.
Other London universities fared well in the rankings, including the University of East London, named the Best University for Teaching Quality and the University of the Arts London, which won the award for Best Specialist University.
London School of Economics, founded in 1895, moved up the rankings this year due to improved graduate prospects, student satisfaction and teaching quality.
The Times and Sunday Times Good University Guide editor Helen Davies highlighted London as “one of the most extraordinary cities in which to study in the world”.
She said: “The higher education sector is facing unprecedented challenges from debates on free speech to financial stability, but it is important to remember the force for good that going to university can be.”
LSE president and vice-chancellor Professor Larry Kramer said: “This award is a tribute to LSE’s outstanding faculty and students, and global community.
“LSE’s combination of world-leading academics and motivated students, dedication to the social sciences, and international focus, while still being firmly rooted in London, makes it a very special place.”
Out of the 22 London universities ranked by this guide, 15 were in the top 100 universities in the country. Birkbeck University withdrew from this league table in 2019 and so is not ranked.
This year’s rankings are released after a group of 141 universities announced that higher tuition fees are needed to halt the deficit caused by the tuition fees cap.
Photo credit: Credit: Umezo Kamata Licence under Creative Commons
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