The University of Cambridge has been placed fourth by The Times Higher Education UK University Rankings 2025.

Cambridge has dropped a rank from last year’s third place position, falling behind the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), the University of St Andrews, and the University of Oxford.

Despite Cambridge’s drop in national rankings, the University has taken the top spot in East Anglia and leads in 19 subjects – including a joint first with the University of St Andrews for History.

The University also topped the table in subjects such as Natural Sciences, History of Art, Civil Engineering, Music, and Linguistics.

When requested for a comment, a spokesperson from the University stated: “We are pleased to be top in 19 subjects, more than any other university.”

Universities are rated on a number of categories including teaching quality, student experience, research quality, entry standards, graduate prospects, continuation rates, student-staff ratios and a new category introduced this year, people and planet.

Cambridge scored 84.2% on teaching quality, 73.3% on student experience, 69.7% on research quality, and 90.4% on graduate prospects. The University scored an overall mark of 950.

People and planet assesses universities against ethical and environmental criteria to evaluate an institution’s sustainability. This is scored by examining a university’s efforts on environmental indicators such as the use of renewable energy, and assessing universities’ institutional policies that affect campus stakeholders.

Helen Davies, Editorial Projects Director at The Sunday Times, commented: “It is true that Oxford and Cambridge have slipped in the rankings. This is as much about the stellar improved performance of our winner LSE on two key metrics: graduate prospects and student satisfaction. The university also ranked highly for sustainability.”

“LSE is a worthy winner, but Oxford and Cambridge remain world-leading universities,” she concluded.