Over the past year, the University of Liverpool has continued to climb in international and UK rankings and has celebrated exceptional student feedback.
International ranking success
In June the latest QS World University Rankings saw the University of Liverpool break into the top 140 universities in the world. With an 8-place rise to 139, this builds on a sustained upward trajectory, which has seen the institution rise more than 50 places over the last four years.
The rankings, which include 1,500 of the world’s leading universities, place Liverpool 22nd out of the 90 UK universities listed.
This success also builds on the University’s strong performance in the QS World University Rankings by Subject, where 12 subjects were ranked in the global top 100, and 2 in the top 50 for 2026, as announced in March.
Read more about our success in the QS World Rankings here
Our students’ voice
In July, the University earned an overall positivity score of more than 85% from students in the 2026 National Student Survey (NSS) – it’s highest ever positivity rating – with improvements across six of the survey’s seven themes.
More than 4,200 final-year students took part in this year’s survey, which is commissioned annually by the Office for Students (OfS). The NSS captures students’ views on key aspects of university life, including teaching, learning opportunities, academic support and learning resources.
Highlights at Liverpool include:
- More than 90% positivity for teaching was achieved across 27 subject areas.
- 92% gave positive responses in relation to learning resources, including library services and IT. This marks another consecutive year increase and a 4% lead over the sector average
- Strong organisation and management scores reached 86%, outperforming the sector average by 5 percentage points.
- Clear communication of mental wellbeing support services which has risen to an all-time high of 85% following dedicated campaign work
- Positivity around freedom to express ideas, opinions and beliefs, which has improved 3% in comparison to last year with a score of 90%
Read more about the NSS survey results here
Liverpool climbs in UK and global university rankings
Today (Thursday 13 August), the University climbed to 25th place in the Daily Mail University Guide rankings. The national league table highlighted the University’s student experience and ranked 13 subjects in the top 10 nationally, including Veterinary Medicine (which was ranked 1st), Physiotherapy (3rd) and Accounting (7th).
In September the University entered the top 20 of The Times and The Sunday Times Good University Guide 2026, climbing five places to 18th in the national league table.
This followed a strong performance in the Guardian University Guide 2026, where the University rose six places to 21st in the same week.
For the second year in a row the University of Liverpool has five subjects featured in the global top 150 of the prestigious Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU), also known as the Shanghai Ranking:
- Veterinary science: 32nd (3rd in the UK)
- Management: 28th (2nd in the UK)
- Business administration: 32nd
- Geography 44th
- Law: 46th
A variety of subject areas across the University also ranked within the top 100 in the world including:
- Mechanical Engineering
- Civil Engineering (5th in the UK)
- Oceanography
- Public Health
- Communication (5th in the UK)
- Transportation Science