Find the right course for YOU. Which university doesn't lead ANY subject rankings despite being in the overall top ten... and which is the unassuming frontrunner? Let the Daily Mail's analysis be your guide

By ALASTAIR MCCALL - UNIVERSITY GUIDE EDTIOR Published: 17:49, 12 August 2026 | Updated: 17:49, 12 August 2026 One university – Imperial College London – leads our institutional league table, but 38 others top our subject tables. Our 79 subject tables are essential reading for those who want to identify the universities in which their subject shines. And some of the best are where overall rankings are relatively modest. Indeed, so widely is subject excellence distributed that the university bringing up the rear in our overall ranking this year – Buckinghamshire New – actually finishes first in our subject ranking for social work. Universities in our top ten overall chalk up 32 subjects between them where they finish in first place. Perhaps unsurprisingly, Imperial also leads in the most subject tables (seven) – biology, chemical, process and energy engineering, computer science, maths, mechanical engineering, medicine and physics and astronomy – while one of our top ten universities – St Andrews – fails to lead any this year, having had the most subject wins in our previous edition. We've designed our subject table for the challenging times graduates now face when they leave university. How effectively courses prepare them for getting good high-skilled jobs after graduating is the biggest component in our subject tables, accounting for 40% of the score. The extent to which students feel their careers are on track 15 months after leaving university accounts for a further 20% of the ranking. This data is drawn from the Graduate Outcomes Survey, which has tracked graduates who left university in summer 2024. The final 40% is split between the ratings students give their subjects based on the quality of teaching, the extent to which they feel supported while studying and their student experience. This data is drawn from the 2026 National Student Survey published in July. We've designed our subject table for the challenging times graduates now face when they leave university and enter the job market Universities need to have registered scores in each of the five areas listed above to be ranked in a subject table. If insufficient numbers of students take part in either of the two surveys that inform the subject rankings, the university will not appear in the relevant subject table. All subject rankings at each university are listed in our online university profiles. These show that Imperial ranks in the top ten for 11 of the 13 subject tables in which it features. Oxford is top for African and modern Middle Eastern studies, archaeology, chemistry and geography (natural sciences), but it is also in the top ten for all 16 subject tables it appears in. Warwick features in the top ten of a remarkable 28 subject tables among its total of 38, leading the way five times – in French, German, Spanish, marketing and philosophy. Worcester, our University of the Year for Graduate Jobs – with an overall high-skilled employment rate of nearly 80% – heads up our subject table for counselling, psychotherapy and occupational therapy, which is among the suite of healthcare subject areas the university is building a national reputation in. A number of other modern universities (institutions that have gained university status since 1992) are also the best in the UK in specific subjects. These include Robert Gordon in Aberdeen (electrical and electronic engineering and physiotherapy), Birmingham City (music), Chichester (childhood and youth studies), Cumbria (biomedical sciences), De Montfort (dance), Lancashire (performing arts), Middlesex (law), Roehampton (teacher training), Wales Trinity St David (art),Winchester (nutrition and dietetics), and Wolverhampton (environmental and public health). All our subject rankings can be found through our University Finder using the subject dropdown menu, while individual university profile pages show the subjects in which they are ranked and their position in those rankings.