Russell Group Universities: The Full List and What It Means

There are 24 Russell Group universities, from Birmingham, Bristol and Cambridge through to Warwick and York. Twenty are in England, two in Scotland, one in Wales and one in Northern Ireland. The Russell Group is an association of research-intensive universities that work together on policy. It isn't a league table, and it isn't a quality stamp for any single course.

If teachers, parents or friends keep saying "aim for a Russell Group uni" and you're not sure what that really means, you're in good company. Below you'll find the full list, checked against the Russell Group's own website on 6 October 2026, plus what membership does and doesn't tell you, and the kind of grades these universities ask for.

What is a Russell Group university?

A Russell Group university is simply a member of the Russell Group. In its own words, the group "represents 24 leading universities across the UK", and it works "through collaboration and advocacy" to champion what those universities contribute to the economy and society. In plain English, it's a club that speaks up for big research universities when the government makes decisions about funding and policy.

Research is the thread that ties the members together. The group says 80% of public research funding is awarded to Russell Group universities on a competitive basis. They're also big places to study: around three quarters of a million students attend one, which the group puts at around 25% of all UK students.

So when someone calls a university "Russell Group", they're telling you it does a lot of research and belongs to this association. They aren't telling you how good your course will be or how much support you'll get, and those are the things that decide if a university is right for you.

What are the 24 Russell Group universities?

Here is the full list as it appears on the Russell Group's "Our universities" page, with where each university is based and a link to our guide to its entry requirements and UCAS points.

Five of the 24 are in London: Imperial, King's College London, LSE, Queen Mary and UCL. Edinburgh and Glasgow are the two Scottish members, Cardiff is the only Welsh one, and Queen's University Belfast is the only member in Northern Ireland. The group itself describes its universities as "located in every region and all 4 nations".

What does Russell Group mean, and what doesn't it mean?

Being "Russell Group" means a university is a member of this association. That's the whole definition. It helps to be clear about what membership is not, because a lot of advice online blurs the lines.

• It isn't a ranking. The Russell Group's website lists its members in alphabetical order, with no scores or positions.
• It isn't a promise of better teaching. Membership reflects the university as a whole, and mostly its research. Your day-to-day experience depends on your course and department.
• It isn't a list of the hardest universities to get into. Entry requirements swing widely between courses at the same university, as the next section shows.
• It isn't the only route to a good degree. Strong courses exist at universities inside and outside the group, so the course you pick matters more than the badge.

If you want a big university with lots of research going on, the list is a sensible place to start. Treat it as a shortlist to explore, not a verdict.

What grades do Russell Group universities ask for?

There's no single Russell Group entry requirement. Each university sets offers course by course, and they can vary a lot between courses at the same university. The University of Sheffield shows this well. For 2027-28 entry, its course pages list:

Adult Nursing also asks for five GCSEs at grade 4/C, including English, Maths and a science. That's a big gap between two courses at the same Russell Group university, which is why it pays to compare courses rather than whole universities.

To see what those offers are worth in Tariff terms, our grade pages show the points for A*AA, AAA and BBB. The per-grade values are simple to remember: an A* is worth 56 UCAS points, an A 48, a B 40 and a C 32. The full scale is on our A-level UCAS points table.

For any other member, open its guide from the table above. Each one sets out real offers for 2026 entry from that university's own pages, so check the live course page for 2027 before you apply. If you're aiming for medicine, our medicine entry requirements guide compares the medical schools, including the Russell Group ones.

Do Russell Group universities use UCAS points?

Check each course page to see if the offer is written in grades (such as AAB) or in Tariff points. The two Sheffield course pages above, for example, give their offers as A-level grades. If an offer is written in grades, aim for those grades rather than a points total.

Our guide to whether all universities use UCAS points explains both systems. Either way, it's worth knowing your own total: pop your predicted grades into the UCAS points calculator, then use how many UCAS points you need to see which offers sit within reach.

What are the top 5 Russell Group universities?

There's no official top five. The Russell Group doesn't rank its members, and the league tables you see each year use different measures, so the order shifts from one table to the next. A university near the top overall might sit lower for the subject you want to study, and the other way round.

If what you really mean is "which are the hardest to get into", look at real numbers instead of reputations. Our Oxbridge admissions statistics guide covers applications and offers at Oxford and Cambridge. For every other member, the entry requirements on the course page tell you far more than any overall position.

What is the lowest ranked Russell Group university?

There isn't an honest answer to this one, because the group has no ranking, and entry requirements vary a lot from course to course, even within one university. Look at Sheffield again: for the same year of entry, it asks for A*AA on Mechanical Engineering and BBB on Adult Nursing. Labelling a whole university as "easy" or "the lowest" hides that.

If you're searching this because your predicted grades sit below some Russell Group offers, here's a more useful approach:

1. Work out your predicted points and grades with the calculator.
2. Search for courses at member universities with offers that match your predictions, rather than ruling out whole universities.
3. Check if you qualify for a contextual offer, which can lower the grades you need.
4. Build a balanced set of choices, so that your firm and insurance choices include at least one course you're comfortably on track for.

Is it better to go to a Russell Group university?

It can be a great choice, but it isn't automatically better. On the plus side, these are large, research-intensive universities with a wide range of courses. The group reports that 88% of its graduates are in work or further study 15 months after graduation, with around 80% of its working graduates in highly-skilled jobs.

Keep that figure in perspective, though. It's an average across all 24 universities and every subject, so it can't tell you how your own course will turn out. A course you love, at a university where you'll feel at home, usually beats one you picked for the name.

When you compare options, weigh up the course content, how you'll be taught and assessed, the cost of living in that city, and how the entry requirements fit your predicted grades. If a course elsewhere ticks more of those boxes, that's a perfectly good reason to choose it.

Which A-levels do Russell Group universities want?

There's no single list. The Russell Group used to publish a list of "facilitating subjects", but its Informed Choices website now says "it is no longer necessary to publish such a list". It also says the idea that facilitating subjects are the only way into a Russell Group university "has never been the case".

What counts is the course. Informed Choices advises that "different universities can have different requirements", so you should always check the subject requirements for each degree you're interested in. Some degrees "don't usually have subject choice requirements" at all, while others name specific subjects, as Sheffield's Mechanical Engineering does with Maths and a science. It also notes there's "no universal entry requirement" to have studied a modern foreign language at GCSE.

If you're still choosing your A-levels, our guides to how many A-levels you need and the hardest A-levels can help you balance ambition with grades you can realistically achieve.

Do Russell Group universities make contextual offers?

Some do. Sheffield, for example, says that with Access Sheffield "you could qualify for additional consideration or a contextual offer". Its course pages above show that offer next to the standard one: AAB instead of A*AA for Mechanical Engineering, and BBC instead of BBB for Adult Nursing.

Other universities may run their own schemes with their own eligibility rules, so check the admissions pages of every university you apply to. Our guide to contextual offers explains who usually qualifies and how the reduced offer works.

What should you do next?

1. Work out your predicted UCAS points and grades.
2. Pick the Russell Group universities that interest you from the table and open our guide to each one.
3. Check the exact course page for 2027 entry, because offers can change every cycle.
4. Mix ambitious and safer choices, inside and outside the group.

Work out your UCAS points