Dating back to the 12th century, the University of Oxford is the oldest university in the English-speaking world. Its academic excellence is renowned the world over, and whilst the university has numerous strengths, it is particularly recognised for the calibre of its science programmes. It was recently ranked number one in the world for medicine and among the top ten universities globally for life sciences, physical sciences, social sciences.
Key Facts
- #3 in the Times and Sunday Times Good University Guide 2025
- #1 in the Guardian Good University Guide 2025
- #2 in the Complete University Guide 2025
- #1 of all universities globally in the Times Higher Education World rankings 2024
- The current Times Higher Education World subject rankings place Oxford 1st for many subjects, including Accounting and Finance, Archaeology, Biological Sciences, Business and Management, Chemical Engineering, Economics, Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Medicine and Dentistry, Physics and Astronomy, Politics, Psychology, Sociology globally.
- Within the Times and Sunday Times Good University Guide 2024, Oxford is 1st in the UK for Art and Design, Bioengineering and Biomedical Engineering, Business, management and marketing, Civil Engineering, Classics and ancient history, East and South Asian studies, English, Geography and Environmental Science, Mechanical Engineering, and Medicine.
Latest undergraduate enrolment
- 12,137 full-time
- 3,537 part-time
Latest postgraduate enrolment
ox.ac.uk
- The university is largely based in and around Oxford’s medieval city centre, and comprises 44 colleges and halls. It has over 100 libraries, making it the largest library system in the UK.
- Oxford's alumni network includes 26 Nobel Prize winners, seven poets laureate, and over 30 modern world leaders (Aung San Suu Kyi, Indira Gandhi, Bill Clinton and 26 of the UK’s Prime Ministers among them).
- The university is associated with 11 winners of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry, five in physics and 16 in medicine.
- Other notable alumni include Tim Berners-Lee, inventor of the world wide web, and Stephen Hawking. The actors Hugh Grant and Rosamund Pike also went to Oxford, as did the writers Oscar Wilde and Graham Greene.
