According to the annual QS 2025 university rankings released on Tuesday, some of the UK’s top universities could face a decline in attractiveness due to funding cuts and stricter regulations on overseas students.
Despite these challenges, four British universities retained their positions in the top 10 of over 1,000 institutions ranked by Quacquarelli Symonds (QS), a benchmark ranking alongside the Times and Shanghai Jiao Tong University.
Imperial College London made a significant leap from sixth to second place, surpassing the historically dominant Oxford and Cambridge, which ranked third and fifth respectively. However, more than half (52) of the UK’s universities dropped in the rankings out of the 90 included.
“This year’s results suggest that British higher education has limited capacity remaining to continue excelling in the face of funding shortages, drops in student applications,” and restrictions affecting the intake of international students, said Jessica Turner, head of QS.
Recent measures introduced by the Conservative government to reduce regular migration, judged to be too high, include barring overseas students from bringing dependents and increasing the minimum salary required for skilled worker visas. These policies have been criticized by universities, which rely heavily on the higher fees paid by international students.
In the first four months of this year, there were 30,000 fewer student visa applications compared to the same period in 2023, according to government statistics.
These trends indicate potential long-term impacts on the global standing and financial health of UK higher education institutions.
