Rankings and league tables
Surrey has established itself as a top university in major national and international university league table rankings.
Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF) - Gold
Based on the evidence available, the TEF Panel judged that the University of Surrey delivers consistently outstanding teaching, learning and outcomes for its students. It is of the highest quality found in the UK.
UK rankings at a glance
- 7th in the Times Higher Education Student Experience Survey 2018
- 26th in The Guardian University Guide 2020
- 32nd in The Times and The Sunday Times Good University Guide 2020
- 34th in the Complete University Guide 2021
Key subject rankings by UK league table
The Complete University Guide 2021
| 2nd | Food science |
| 2nd | Hospitality, leisure, recreation and tourism |
| 3rd | Materials technology |
| 5th | Nursing |
| 10th | Creative writing |
The Complete University Guide league table measures ten key aspects of university activity using the most recent data available at the time of compilation. Five measures are used: student satisfaction, research quality, research intensity, entry standards and graduate prospects.
The Guardian University Guide 2020
| 2nd | Criminology |
| 2nd | Engineering: electronic and electrical |
| 2nd | Music |
| 3rd | Drama and dance |
| 6th | Modern languages and linguistics |
| 8th | Biosciences |
| 8th | Chemistry |
| 10th | Psychology |
The methodology of The Guardian University Guide focuses on subject-level league tables, ranking institutions that provide each subject according to their relevant statistics.
Eight statistical measures are employed to approximate a university’s performance in teaching each subject. The measures are knitted together to get a Guardian score, against which institutions are ranked.
"The majority of undergraduate students undertake a work-based professional training year – this is, after all, the university that pioneered sandwich degrees. The university is famous for its consistently outstanding employment record."
The Times and The Sunday Times Good University Guide 2020
| 2nd | Food science |
| 2nd | French |
| 3rd | Iberian languages |
| 4th | Nursing |
| 5th | Hospitality, leisure and tourism |
| 9th | Sport science |
| 10th | Creative writing |
The Times and Sunday Times Good University Guide takes into account student satisfaction, research quality, entry standards, graduate prospects, firsts and 2:1s, completion rates, student-staff ratio, and services and facilities spend.
International league tables
QS World University Rankings
- 8th for Hospitality and Leisure Management in the QS World University Rankings by Subject 2020
- Surrey ranked 267th in the QS World University Rankings 2021
Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2020
We are 261st in the Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2019 and 128th in its list of the best universities in Europe (2019).
Times Higher Education University Impact Rankings 2019
We are 100th in the Times Higher Education University Impact Rankings 2019.
Academic Ranking of World Universities (Shanghai Ranking)
We are 5th for Hospitality and Tourism Management, 48th for Telecommunication Engineering and 50th for Aerospace Engineering in the Shanghai Ranking - 2020 subject rankings. We also ranked in the top 100 for the following subjects:
- Sociology
- Nursing
- Veterinary Sciences
- Electrical and Electronic Engineering
- Transportation Science & Technology
Surrey ranked 380th by the Academic Ranking of World Universities 2019
Sustainability
We are 59th in the Times Higher Education (THE) University Impact Rankings, a global ranking of universities assessing performance against a range of UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).