Oxford and Cambridge pushed out of top three UK university rankings for first time

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/education/oxford-cambridge-university-rankings-sunday-times-list-b2831024.html

by BestButtons

19 comments

  1. > The universities of Oxford and Cambridge have slipped out of the top three in prestigious university rankings for the first time.

    > The Times and The Sunday Times Good University Guide 2026 ranked London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) first for the second year in a row, followed by the University of St Andrews in second, and Durham University in third.

    > The University of Oxford and the University of Cambridge were joint fourth – the first time neither have held a place in the top three in the 32 years the Times guide has been running.

    Sounds like they may drop in the world rankings as well.

  2. Go on then, find that person that thinks a degree from St Andrews > Cambridge.

  4. The methodology for these sort of rankings are always a bit bullshit. Quite subjective.

    The important thing a lot of the time is actually. The cachet attached to a particular university. That changes slowly, not year-in, year-out.

    Most people would still rather have an Oxbridge degree on their CV than St. Andrew’s, I think.

  5. Hopefully The University of Hull has finally taken its rightful place? Read the article or watch Blackadder again. I am not sure which I should do first.

  6. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/01/25/oxford-cambridge-move-away-traditional-exams-boost-results/

    Oxford and Cambridge to move away from ‘traditional’ exams to boost results of minorities
    Universities considering open-book tests and take-home papers in bid to close achievement gap between students from different backgrounds

    I feel like making some exclusive stuff „inclusive” is just terrible idea. Open-book test and take-home papers 😂 I’m normal guy and acknowledge that my brain is just not good enough for Oxford and move on. Won’t ask them to lower the bar just for me to feel included. It’s perfectly fine to not go to top university. It makes harm to those actually gifted and worthy.
    Like recently this guy from Cambridge who celebrated Kirk’d death (I’m anti Trump anti Kirk). Before he was trying to debate Kirk but he just humiliated himself. Clearly diversity admitted. 👎

  7. Is it any surprise when the president of the Oxford Union is an ABB student? And even worse, an ABB student from the COVID years where all grades were inflated. Realistically he’s a BCC student.

    It’s an elected position too, so him getting anywhere near that role shows a slipping standard of students in general.

    Absolute state of it. Here [he is at a debate..](https://i.imgur.com/Xp2i6jR.png) Most people wouldn’t even turn up to work at a corner shop dressed like that.

    Anyone telling me the standards at Oxford haven’t slipped is lying to themselves.

    Coasting on past success and reputation is something we unfortunately excel at as a country. It works for quite a while until one day it just… Doesn’t. And it’s abrupt too.

    We never seem to work at actually protecting that past success and reputation, and worse we invite people in who will actively work to diminish said success and reputation. It’s a total mess.

  8. Some ranking systems (such as this) focus on things like quality of teaching and job prospects. Others (such as QS) put more weight on things like research output. This results in pretty big difference between ranking systems.

    If you’re looking for an exceptional undergraduate education, go to St Andrews. If you’re looking to do a PHD with the best people in the world, go to Oxford.

  9. Big push to include those from “disadvantaged backgrounds” is clearly lowering standards.

  10. This is what happens when you prioritise diversity over excellence

  11. Non oxbridge grads not realising how rich the colleges actually are and how much of an advantage the connections you make are. A degree from Oxford is worth infinitely more than St Andrews lol

  12. As a Durham student,the prestige rankings haven’t changed

  13. It’s not like these universities are much different tbh. In terms of education, you’re going to get an incredible degree from any of the top ten. It’s sort of splitting hairs to try and tell them apart.

    That said, the prestige attached to Oxbridge is unlike anything else in the UK, and only a couple of unis worldwide can match it. And that prestige takes you a long way.

  14. As a researcher I’ve been pre loudly surprised to find how many people with truly dodgy records have chairs at Cambridge especially but also Oxford. They often have truly eminent support. One wonders why, but not for long.

  15. Find me a set of circumstances in which going to Durham/St Andrews helps you more over your career than going to Oxbridge.

    I’ll bet its massively niche and holds true only for <5% of attendees.

    For the vast majority of clever little cookies, university is about signalling. For many other departments (including people staying in academics) going to oxbridge is going to get you into better PhD programmes or other academic roles.

  16. As a current Oxford student, it really doesn’t feel like much has changed to me over the last two years to be honest.

  17. OxBridge are the Manchester United of universities. No longer top of the league, but somehow still have the pull of a much better team.

  18. Funny that people are only talking shit on the Scottish uni. Not Durham or London school of economics…

  19. Over on Twitter they’re going to take a picture of the president of the Oxford Union wearing casual clothes while debating Charlie Kirk and a screenshot of this article to make a point about declining standards.

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