Oxford university is more prestigious than Cambridge, say Brits

Matthew SmithHead of Data Journalism
September 05, 2018, 11:00 PM GMT+0

Four in ten Brits believe Oxford to be Briton’s top uni

Together Oxford and Cambridge universities are seen as the pinnacle of UK higher education excellence on both a national and international level.

The two universities are seen so treated like a single entity that there is a special term for the two of them as a pair: Oxbridge.

But now a new YouGov Omnibus survey reveals that Oxford is far more likely to be seen as the UK’s most prestigious university than Cambridge. Asked which university they believe deserves that accolade, four in ten Brits (41%) awarded it to Oxford, compared to just 23% for Cambridge.

A further 7% of Brits opted for “some other university”, while the remaining 30% answered “don’t know”.

Ironically, in the Times Higher Education’s World University Rankings Cambridge has always placed higher than Oxford on their reputation measure (although Oxford has consistently been judged better overall).

The results also come at a time when Oxford has pulled ahead of Cambridge in the QS World University Rankings tables for the first time ever. In the third of the big three university – the Academic Ranking of World Universities – Cambridge continues to perform better.

The results are broadly similar across all sections of society. Only among 18-24 year olds are the results radically different, with Oxford on 29% to Cambridge’s 28%.

Graduates are almost somewhat more likely to rate Cambridge as the better of the two universities – although Oxford still wins by 39% to 27% (and 10% for other institutions).

Scots are the most likely to have answered “some other university”, at 15% – perhaps being more likely to consider a Scottish institution like the University of Edinburgh.

Photo: Getty

See the full results here

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