Essex once again in UK top 30

The Complete University Guide has placed the University of Essex in the UK top 30.

The Guide ranks the best universities in the UK, overall and in 74 subject areas. Universities are assessed across key areas including student satisfaction, research quality, research intensity, graduate prospects, student-staff ratios, academic services and facilities spend, continuation and entry standards.

Essex has moved up one place to 29th in the Complete University Guide 2026 with particularly strong performances in academic and facilities spend, student satisfaction, research quality and research intensity.

Vice-Chancellor Professor Maria Fasli said: “We are delighted to be ranked once again in the top 30 of the Complete University Guide and we have moved up one place to 29th.

“I am really pleased that our ranking in the Complete University Guide recognises our commitment to delivering a world-class student experience with high-quality teaching informed by our global research leaders.”

Top performances in the UK in the subject rankings include 5th for ‘Tourism, Transport, Travel and Heritage Studies’ - which is 11th for graduate prospects, 13th for ‘Creative Writing’ - which is 2nd for graduate prospects and 16th for research quality, 14th for ‘Drama, Dance and Cinematics’ – which is 5th for student satisfaction and 12th for graduate prospect, and 27th for ‘Communications and Media Studies’ - which is 12th for graduate prospects.

The University of Essex is one of the most international universities in the world – ranking 17th for international outlook in the Times Higher Education World University rankings.

Essex is also ranked 23rd in the UK and in the top 5 for ‘value-added’ in the Guardian University Guide 2025 and is in the top 100 institutions globally for the third year running in the Times Higher Education Impact Rankings.

Essex was the top university in the East of England for 'overall positivity' according to feedback from students in the National Student Survey 2024.