University of St Andrews Ranked First in the UK

On Friday 18 September, the University of St Andrews was named the UK’s best university in The Sunday Times Good University Guide 2027.

In this report, St Andrews was ranked ahead of The London School of Economics, Imperial College, Cambridge, and Oxford. It was also named Scottish University of the Year and runner-up UK University of the Year for Teaching Quality for 2027.

St Andrews also performed highly in The Times’ subject rankings with five subjects ranked top in the UK: History, English, Art History, Modern Languages, and Physics. In addition, all subjects at St Andrews were ranked in the top six in the UK.

As the University's news report describes, The Times attributes St Andrews’ success to “high student satisfaction scores, research quality, demanding entry tariffs, an international outlook, and the strong prospects of its graduates.”

The University's report also states that it is the third time in six years that St Andrews has been placed first in the UK’s longest-running university league table.

In conversation with The Saint, Alice Thomas, a first-year International Relations and Economics student, described how the top rankings of St Andrews "definitely played a role” in her selecting this university. Thomas explained that, as an international student, having such “definitively positive rankings helped me to get a better sense of St Andrews’ reputation and ultimately helped me to justify the effort of moving abroad.”

In contrast, Belle Boren, a third-year study abroad student from Baylor University, admitted that she did not know about the league table rankings of St Andrews when applying to study here for the semester. Instead, she was drawn by the quality of the academic programs and the picturesque location of the university town. 

Boren said that “[as a] US study abroad student, I am not super familiar with the university system here in the UK. However, after being here for a while, I am not surprised by the rating […] I can imagine it would be hard to beat!”

On Friday 18 September, in a university-wide message, St Andrews’ Principal and Vice-Chancellor, Professor Dame Sally Mapstone, wrote: “Each one of you has contributed to this.”

Mapstone continued: “From our demanding entry tariffs to the strength of our world-leading teaching and research, through the achievements of our students and graduates to the quality of the professional services which support our academic mission, St Andrews has proved not only that small is beautiful, it can be consistently sector-leading.” 

St Andrews has however dropped from second place in 2026 to fourth place in 2027 in The Guardian University Guide. In this report, St Andrews was topped by Oxford, Cambridge, and LSE, respectively. 

The Guardian explained that its ranking system, like the Times, includes “what students say about their teaching and feedback in the annual National Student Survey.” Unlike The Times, The Guardian rankings focus more on this recorded student experience, incorporating metrics of “how much universities spend on teaching each student,” as well as students’ A-level grades — or equivalent — and whether their academic performance improves at university (termed as the value-added score).

The rankings come at a point when universities across the UK are facing economic constraints. As reported by The Guardian in August, 2026, many UK higher education institutions currently face a “financial crisis” amid a collapse of foreign student enrollment. 

According to a June, 2026 UK House of Commons report, this decrease in foreign enrollment is partially due to increased visa restrictions for international students. 

This development will be exacerbated by a levy on international student fees — set to take effect August 1, 2028 —imposed by former UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer. This charge will require English universities to pay a flat fee of £925 per international student per year. As reported by a Guardian article written in August 2026, certain universities, like the University of Exeter, have already been forced to discontinue academic programmes due to this increased financial pressure. 

Asked to comment on the student experience of the University of St Andrews’  financial situation, Olivia Simpson, a second-year Scottish student studying International Relations, said: “I have personally worked for the University and have witnessed firsthand the University attempting to save large amounts of money, which isn't shocking. But from a current student perspective, I have never felt like my educational experience has been hampered by cost-cutting exercises.”  

Dame Mapstone concluded in her email: “We must use our agency as individuals, and collectively as the UK’s leading university, to not only defend our sector and advocate for better state support, but to describe and design the changes that we ourselves must undergo to retain the confidence of a society which we exist to serve.”