Top medical schools in the UK 2026

By seeta.bhardwa@…, 3 February, 2026

Top Medical schools in the UK 2026

UK Medicine Rank 2026	Global Medicine Rank 2026	University	Overall	Teaching	Research Environment	Research Quality	Industry	International Outlook
1	1	University of Oxford	94.7	93.1	99.3	92.6	100	91.8
2	2	University of Cambridge	93.5	92.5	98.3	91.2	92.4	91.9
3	4	Imperial College London	91.3	87	93.3	92.5	86.1	96.7
4	8	UCL	88.4	82.7	89.8	89.9	89.7	96.7
5	=15	King’s College London	84.7	77.8	87.3	86.5	77.8	95.6
6	=20	University of Edinburgh	82.9	77.8	74.8	91.3	76.7	93.5
7	48	University of Glasgow	72.1	50	55	95.6	92.6	90
8	53	University of Manchester	70.3	56.7	58.3	86.7	74.2	82.1
9	55	University of Bristol	69	48	56.1	91.1	81	79.2
10	70	University of Birmingham	64	43.9	45	87.6	77.3	85.3
11	=72	Queen Mary University of London	63.3	38.7	41.5	88.8	87.5	95.3
12	83	Newcastle University	60.6	33.7	42.9	87.1	90.9	78.3
13	85	University of Liverpool	60.2	37.5	43.1	85.4	70.6	78.7
14	90	University of Nottingham	59.7	42.2	37.9	82.8	71.5	85.1
15	98	University of Sheffield	58.6	40.4	37.5	83.7	75	71.4
16	100	University of Leeds	58	36.8	35.9	84.2	81.1	76.2
=17	101–125	University of Leicester	56.0–57.9	24.2	32.4	94.9	79.7	69.9
=17	101–125	University of Southampton	56.0–57.9	31.3	35.2	85.8	77.9	80.7
=17	101–125	University of York	56.0–57.9	30.8	37.9	86.3	64.6	78.9
=20	126–150	City St George's, University of London	53.9–55.8	27.5	32.1	86.5	68.1	82.1
=20	126–150	Queen’s University Belfast	53.9–55.8	29.9	30.8	82.7	75.2	97.8
=20	126–150	University of Warwick	53.9–55.8	26.9	30.4	88.1	64.9	79.9
=23	151–175	University of Aberdeen	51.0–53.5	32.9	25.7	75.6	71.5	92.4
=23	151–175	University of Exeter	51.0–53.5	25.4	29.6	81	59.4	79.4
=25	176–200	Cardiff University	49.8–50.9	29.4	28	76.1	73.2	73.2
=25	176–200	University of Dundee	49.8–50.9	28.8	27.1	75	74.6	86.7
=27	201–250	Lancaster University	46.6–49.7	23.5	21.1	77.5	48.5	77.5
=27	201–250	University of Bath	46.6–49.7	25	25.8	76.2	76.5	83.8
=29	251–300	Aston University	44.1–46.5	24	17.4	69.1	68.3	83.4
=29	251–300	Nottingham Trent University	44.1–46.5	14.6	17.7	81.3	43.5	82.4
=29	251–300	University of St Andrews	44.1–46.5	27.1	20.2	68.9	69.3	89.1
=29	251–300	University of Sussex	44.1–46.5	23.1	22	69.7	67.7	90.6
=33	301–400	Anglia Ruskin University (ARU)	40.1–44.0	15.3	11.9	78.8	33.1	90.7
=33	301–400	Bournemouth University	40.1–44.0	13.8	11.1	77.6	28.1	72.6
=33	301–400	Keele University	40.1–44.0	16.9	16.7	70.7	48.1	75.7
=33	301–400	Swansea University	40.1–44.0	18.2	15.8	68	47.3	69.3
=33	301–400	Ulster University	40.1–44.0	14.6	16.1	65.9	54.5	92.6
=33	301–400	University of East Anglia	40.1–44.0	19.1	15.5	77.4	53.8	71.7
=33	301–400	University of Strathclyde	40.1–44.0	19.5	23.7	62.6	74.6	90.2
=33	301–400	University of Surrey	40.1–44.0	18.3	22.5	70.6	65.9	72.7
=41	401–500	Brunel University of London	36.7–40.0	18.4	13.7	57.5	43.3	93.6
=41	401–500	Coventry University	36.7–40.0	16.4	11.4	62.2	25.4	88.7
=41	401–500	Liverpool John Moores University	36.7–40.0	16.6	17.8	66.7	45.1	74.3
=41	401–500	London South Bank University	36.7–40.0	11.7	8.4	72.5	20.5	88.9
=41	401–500	Middlesex University	36.7–40.0	16	11	69.7	29.1	89.2
=41	401–500	University of Brighton	36.7–40.0	15.6	13.4	59	45.7	85.3
=41	401–500	University of Greenwich	36.7–40.0	13.9	10.4	64.8	40.9	85.1
=41	401–500	University of Hull	36.7–40.0	14.8	14.7	65.7	52.8	62.1
=41	401–500	University of Kent	36.7–40.0	15.9	16.8	61.8	51.5	85.8
=41	401–500	University of Portsmouth	36.7–40.0	14.8	12.2	62.2	54.2	78
=51	501–600	Edinburgh Napier University	33.9–36.6	12.7	11.4	63.3	25	85.4
=51	501–600	Glasgow Caledonian University	33.9–36.6	14.5	11.7	61.3	41.4	66.3
=51	501–600	Leeds Beckett University	33.9–36.6	14.1	12.5	59.2	30.8	70.9
=51	501–600	Manchester Metropolitan University	33.9–36.6	16.3	15.6	58.1	33	84.6
=51	501–600	Northumbria University	33.9–36.6	17.4	14.5	59.8	37.2	67.9
=51	501–600	Sheffield Hallam University	33.9–36.6	15	11.3	61.5	28.4	55
=51	501–600	University of Essex	33.9–36.6	15.2	11	53.7	31.9	90.6
=51	501–600	University of Hertfordshire	33.9–36.6	13.1	10.1	57.5	36.2	81
=51	501–600	University of Huddersfield	33.9–36.6	11.7	10.1	64.4	30.2	73.2
=51	501–600	University of Plymouth	33.9–36.6	15.5	12.4	55.7	48.4	67.5
=51	501–600	University of Stirling	33.9–36.6	16.8	18.7	57.2	33.9	70
=62	601–800	Bangor University	28.2–33.8	15.1	13.3	51.8	46.3	61.2
=62	601–800	Birmingham City University	28.2–33.8	13.8	9	55.5	20.8	70.3
=62	601–800	Cardiff Metropolitan University	28.2–33.8	16.3	14.3	46.3	31.7	80.2
=62	601–800	Kingston University	28.2–33.8	13.7	11.9	42.1	31.8	82.8
=62	601–800	Oxford Brookes University	28.2–33.8	22	17.3	40.3	30.1	82.1
=62	601–800	Teesside University	28.2–33.8	11.4	9	55.2	23.7	59.1
=62	601–800	UWE Bristol (University of the West of England)	28.2–33.8	13.6	10	55.8	31	62.8
=62	601–800	University of Bradford	28.2–33.8	13.9	11.2	43.8	56.8	74.9
=62	601–800	University of East London	28.2–33.8	17.9	9.5	43	27.2	84.1
=62	601–800	University of Lancashire	28.2–33.8	13.1	10.3	47.3	27.6	82.2
=62	601–800	University of Lincoln	28.2–33.8	13.6	11	60.5	26.6	64.7
=62	601–800	University of Salford	28.2–33.8	12.9	10.5	43.8	31.1	74.8
=74	801–1000	Canterbury Christ Church University	22.9–28.1	13	8.8	44.7	19.5	67.4
=74	801–1000	De Montfort University	22.9–28.1	14	8.9	37.2	27.6	85.3
=74	801–1000	Edge Hill University	22.9–28.1	11.7	8.5	46.6	19.5	55
=74	801–1000	The Open University	22.9–28.1	14.8	7.8	42.9	27	60.3
=74	801–1000	University of Chester	22.9–28.1	11.3	8.8	33	23.3	70
=74	801–1000	University of Derby	22.9–28.1	12.7	8.9	45.3	20.7	66.5
=74	801–1000	University of South Wales	22.9–28.1	13.7	10.4	40.2	25.5	74.2
=74	801–1000	University of Staffordshire	22.9–28.1	11.8	8.9	41.4	22.3	57.6
=74	801–1000	University of Wolverhampton	22.9–28.1	11.8	8.1	38.2	27.9	72.4
=74	801–1000	University of the West of Scotland	22.9–28.1	11.2	8.3	49.6	25.7	59

Key insights into the best universities for medicine in the UK

The University of Oxford takes, not only the first place position in the UK, but is also the top university in the world for medical degrees.
There are 83 universities in the UK ranked for medicine
Universities in London rank highly for medicine with three universities in London featuring in the top 10.
The medical table evaluates universities on courses in medicine, dentistry, nursing and allied and public health courses.

Choosing the Right University in UK for Medicine

The UK is known for its National Health Service (NHS), one of the world’s largest publicly funded healthcare systems. Many of the country’s public hospitals have close ties with medical schools.

In the UK, medicine degrees are available at an undergraduate level, usually through a five- or six-year programme. These programmes allow students to gain a broad knowledge of medicine and include work placements and practical sessions. Students can then specialise through further study.

Medical students in the UK are expected to have high grades in chemistry and biology, but requirements vary between universities. UK Consortium universities offering medicine degrees require students to take the University Clinical Aptitude Test (UCAT); and other top universities require students to take the BioMedical Admissions Test (BMAT). International students are also required to take one of these tests when applying to a UK university.

When selecting a university for medicine in UK, rankings can provide a helpful benchmark for assessing academic strength and how well a university prepares you for a future career.

The Times Higher Education Subject Rankings: Medicine assess universities using five core pillars:

Research environment
Teaching quality
Research quality
Industry collaboration
International outlook

These indicators give students and families reliable insights into how institutions perform across critical areas of education and innovation.

The table for the best universities for medicine in the UK was derived from data collected for the THE World University Subject Rankings: Medicine. The results are calculated using 18 performance indicators underlying five metrics. For more insights and a detailed breakdown of our ranking methodology, visit our methodology page. Use the ranking table above to explore the right institution for you.

Thumbnail image

Section

Best universities

Subjects

Medicine & Dentistry

Standfirst

Discover the best medical schools in the UK featuring 83 universities across the UK. The UK ranking is derived from the Times Higher Education University Rankings by Subject 2026: Medicine, released in January 2026.

The list is based on a comprehensive assessment that scores top universities for the UK in medicine in areas such as teaching, research and international outlook for studying computer science. The methodology is designed by Times Higher Education’s in-house data team, and it is trusted by students, academics, policymakers, and industry leaders worldwide.

Country

United Kingdom

CTA

BMI (Old SI-UK) CTA

Student logo

Display TAP Popcard?

Best medical schools in the UK 2026