The Daily Mail’s University Guide has published 78 subject-level tables that identify the specialist institutions for individual courses, with Imperial College London leading the overall institutional league but subject-topping success shared by 44 universities.
Compiled by Alastair McCall and published Sept. 5, 2025 (updated Sept. 8), the guide shows that centres of excellence are widely dispersed across the UK higher-education sector and that a university’s overall ranking does not always predict subject performance. The University of St Andrews tops five subject tables — history of art, archaeology, classics, mathematics and psychology — while some universities ranked in the overall top ten do not lead any subject tables.
The subject rankings are built on a combination of graduate outcomes and student feedback. The single largest component — how effectively courses prepare students for obtaining good high-skilled jobs after graduating — accounts for 40 percent of a subject score. A further 20 percent reflects the extent to which graduates report their careers are on track 15 months after leaving university; both measures are drawn from the Graduate Outcomes Survey. The remaining 40 percent is split between ratings given by students in the 2025 National Student Survey for quality of teaching, the extent of support while studying and overall student experience.
Universities must have registered scores for each of the five measures to appear in a subject table; insufficient participation in either the Graduate Outcomes Survey or the National Student Survey can result in exclusion from a given subject ranking, the guide notes.
Imperial is identified as the top institution in the overall league table and is named the best place for subjects such as chemistry and mechanical engineering. The guide reports that Imperial ranks in the top ten for 11 of the 13 subject tables in which it appears. The University of Oxford leads subject tables for German, materials and technology, philosophy and physics and ranks in the top ten for 20 of the 21 tables in which it appears.
The guide highlights a number of modern universities that lead subject tables: the University of Chichester tops performing arts and tourism, transport and travel; Teesside University leads social work; the University of Brighton tops childhood and youth studies and health studies; Buckinghamshire New University leads sport and exercise sciences; the University of Derby is top for bioengineering; and the University of Gloucestershire leads journalism and media studies.
Additional modern university winners include the University of Hertfordshire for counselling, psychotherapy and occupational therapy; Leeds Beckett University for health sciences; the University of Lincoln for dance; Liverpool John Moores University for pharmacy; Northumbria University for physiotherapy; Oxford Brookes University for nursing and midwifery; the University of Plymouth for civil engineering and cinematics and photography; and the University of the West of England for environmental and public health. The guide also notes historical teacher-training institutions: St Mary’s University, Twickenham, and Plymouth Marjon top education and teacher training respectively.
The subject tables and full university profiles are available online through the Daily Mail’s University Guide. The publication said the profiles list all subject rankings for each institution and aim to help prospective students identify where particular courses and departments excel across the UK higher-education sector.