Rankings and reputation

• 9th in the UK and 23rd worldwide in the QS World Rankings for Sustainability 2025
• 17th overall and 2nd for Counselling & Occupational Therapy with 14 subject areas in the top 10 in The Complete University Guide 2024
• 17th in The Times and The Sunday Times Good University Guide 2024
• 20th overall in The Guardian University Guide 2024
• 21st in the UK according to the Daily Mail University Rankings

• 80th in the QS World University Rankings (2025)
• Six subjects in the global top 50, according to QS World University Rankings by Subject (2024):  Nursing (6); Archaeology (33); Earth and Marine Sciences (39); Statistics & Operational Research (39); Geology (42); Geophysics (43) 
• Twelve subjects in the top 100 globally:  Mechanical, Aeronautical & Manufacturing Engineering (51); Physics and Astronomy (59); Medicine (62); Electrical & Electronic Engineering (72); Civil & Structural Engineering (51-100 band); Philosophy (51-100 band)
• 115th in the Times Higher Education (THE) World University Rankings 2025 and 14th among UK universities listed. Explore the full World University Rankings and UK Best Universities
• 11th in Times Higher Education's (THE) 'Golden Age' universities 2020 - the top 200 institutions founded as universities between 1945 and 1967. Southampton is second among the UK universities featured. Learn more at timeshighereducation.com

• 90% of students responded that teaching staff were good at explaining things
• 87% of students responded that their course was intellectually stimulating
• 87% of students were positive about learning resources provided by the University
• 85% of students were positive about the teaching on their course

According to the Research Excellence Framework (REF) 2021:

• 92 per cent of our research is world leading or internationally excellent, which assessed the quality of research in UK higher education institutions
• we are in the top 10 per cent of UK universities and fourth in the Russell Group for impact demonstrating the real-world benefit of our research
• over 97 per cent of our research environment is world-leading or internationally excellent

• The University is a three-times winner of the Queen's Anniversary Prize for Further and Higher Education, approved directly by The Queen and Parliament.
• Eight of our academic colleagues received honours from HM The Queen in 2020 including:
  • Professor Stephen Holgate, knighted for services to medical research
  • Professor Lucy Yardley, awarded an OBE for services to the COVID-19 response
  • Professor Jackie Wahba, awarded an OBE for services to economic policy
  • Professor Hywel Morgan and Professor Paul Elkington, both awarded MBEs for services to Medicine particularly during COVID-19
  • Dr Nisreen Alwan, awarded an MBE for services to Medicine and Public Health during COVID-19
  • Professor Keith Godfrey, awarded an MBE for services to Medicine during COVID-19
  • Adjunct Professor Grahaeme Henderson, awarded an OBE for services to the international shipping industry.
• The Royal Academy of Engineering (RAEng) has awarded the University of Southampton team behind PeRSo - Personal Respirator Southampton - a President’s Special Award for Pandemic Service for exceptional engineering achievements in tackling COVID-19 throughout the UK (August 2020).
• Since 2017, six of our academic colleagues have been awarded National Teaching Fellowships in for developing excellence throughout their careers, including:
  • Dr Basel Halek  (2020)
  • Dr Scott Border (2019)
  • Professor Sally Curtis (2019)
  • Dr Judith Holloway (2017)
  • Professor David Read (2017)
  • James Wilson (2017)
• We hold two Regius Professorships, a rare honour bestowed by The Queen to recognise exceptional teaching and research:
  • Leading web scientist Professor Dame Wendy Hall, was appointed Regius Professor in Computer Science in 2017;
  • Distinguished oceanographer, Professor Harry Bryden, was appointed Regius Professor in Ocean Sciences in 2020.
• First-rate cyber security teaching at the University of Southampton has been recognised in December 2020 with a prestigious Gold Award in a new government programme from the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC).