The best (and worst) universities in London have been named by the Daily Mail

It’s that time of year when 18-year-olds all over the country are gearing up for a whole new part of their lives. They’ve received their A-level results and decided on their university and now, all that’s left to do is take a trip to IKEA and join the enormous freshers 2025 group chat.

Soon, a new batch of school students to follow in their footsteps. Universities start taking applications for 2026 in September, and to help students start to narrow down their options, the Daily Mail has released its ranking of the UK’s best and worst. The paper has scored 128 British universities based on research, student life, graduate prospects and each subject they offer. Here’s how London’s institutions did. 

For the third consecutive year, Imperial College London trumped all other universities in the country (including Oxford and Cambridge) to be crowned number one. The Mail ranked it first in the categories for research quality, high-skilled jobs and graduate salaries well as for chemistry and mechanical engineering. 

The Mail said: ‘Imperial's success is rooted in academic excellence and an unparalleled record in graduate destinations where high-quality jobs and high salaries are the norm.’ 

It added that after years of scoring poorly in the National Student Survey, Imperial has put more effort into improving student satisfaction and has started to build a ‘reputation for providing an excellent student experience’. 

The next best London university was London School of Economics, which landed in fourth place overall. The only other capital-based uni to make it into the top 10 was University College London – King’s College London landed just outside in 11th place.  

At the other end of the spectrum, London Metropolitan University was the city’s lowest ranking institution. It place 124th our of 128 (joint with York St John University). Made up of a main campus on Holloway Road and smaller campuses in Shoreditch and Aldgate, London Met was placed 123rd for high-skilled jobs, 100th for research quality and 125th for first year completion. It did better when it came to specific courses, ranking sixth out of 53 for art and 10th out of 63 for film and photography. 

Despite its low overall ranking, London Met was praised for its student experience, student support and for the opportunities it gives to people from disadvantaged backgrounds. The paper said: ‘Just under half the students are from homes where neither parent went to university and even more are mature students aged over 21. Courses often include a foundation year to widen access to include pupils without the grades to progress straight on to a three-year degree.’

The only London uni not featured in the ranking is Birkbeck, University of London. The Mail says that it’s unranked ‘due to the largely part-time student population and the university's highly flexible approach to studying – both admirable features but ones which make it hard to compare with other institutions’. 

London’s universities ranked best to worst for 2025, according to the Daily Mail 

Here are all the London unis in the Mail’s latest ranking, including their placement in the UK-wide list. 

1. Imperial College London (1) 
2. LSE (4)
3. UCL (5)
4. King’s College (11)
5. Queen Mary University London (15)
6. City St George’s, University of London (26)
7. Royal Holloway, University of London (48)
8. London South Bank University (54)
9. University of West London (70)
10. SOAS University of London (74)
11. University of Greenwich (74)
12. St Mary’s University, Twickenham (85)
13. University of the Arts London (89)
14. Kingston University (95)
15. Brunel, University of London (98)
16. Goldsmiths, University of London (103)
17. University of East London (103)
18. University of Westminster (112)
19. University of Roehampton (119)
20. London Metropolitan University (124)

See how the rest of the UK’s universities ranked in the Mail’s guide here. 

Imperial also beat Oxbridge in the QS World University Ranking. Read more about that here.