University of Leeds raised nine places in The Guardian’s University Guide 2026

The University of Leeds has come joint twenty eighth with the University of Chichester in The Guardian’s University Guide 2026. This is a rise of nine places, from the university’s previous ranking of thirty-seven the previous year. 

The Guardian University guide is the broadsheet newspaper’s annual ranking of the UK’s top further educational institutions in the country. It is often considered as an important influence in prospective students’ decision making, along with the Complete University Guide and The Times Good University Guide, where the university rose two and three places respectively in each guide. 

The Guardian takes a number of factors into consideration such as student satisfaction, staff levels, funding and career progression post-graduation.

Leeds scored sixty-two out of one hundred points overall and saw 85.4% of students say they were satisfied with the quality of teaching they received and 74.4% of students satisfied with the level of feedback. 

In addition, the guide found 84% of students were in either high level employment or further study after fifteen months from graduation and 94.7% of undergraduates continued after their first year of study.

The guide provides an individual league table for each subject, where eighteen of the University’s courses ranked within the top fifteen in the country. 

The University has been keen to share in this success across its online platforms. The Deputy Vice-Chancellor, Professor Hai-Sui Yu has stressed the importance of league tables to the university’s reputation and how “a higher position helps us attract the best to study here.” 

He was keen to congratulate the university’s staff saying that “The improvements we are seeing now show the value of this collective effort [to enhance education] and the difference it is already making to our students and our reputation.”

Given that student’s perception of both quality of teaching and feedback is an important factor in how The Guardian determines the university’s score, I spoke to some students about how they feel about the teaching and feedback they receive.

One final year student in the School of History said that overall, he found that many of the teachers were “incredible world-class experts who are genuinely passionate about history.” However, he did note that he was “disappointed about the vagueness of feedback, lack of contact hours and the inability to create a highly quality student-tutor relationship.”

Tom, a third year Politics student, said that he found the lectures in his subject “engaging and interesting”, saying he would recommend Politics at Leeds to a friend. Tom also said that he thought that the feedback “could be more detailed.” 

Another student, also comments on how she found the teaching in her subject, English, at a very high standard but that the “feedback on essays was often limited and non-specific.”You can see the whole Guardian University Guide 2026 here: https://www.theguardian.com/education/ng-interactive/2025/sep/13/the-guardian-university-guide-2026-the-rankings