Lancaster has been ranked highly in the 2025 National Student Survey, with student feedback placing us among the UK’s top ten universities for high-quality learning resources (91.6%). Academic support also received strong praise, with 90.2% of students voting positively, and we’re proud to be ranked 6th in the UK for library resources, with a satisfaction score of 93.9%.

One of the top 30 most targeted universities by employers

Lancaster University is among the top 30 most targeted universities by the UK's top graduate employers according to The Graduate Market in 2026 report. The UK Graduate Careers Survey, conducted by High Fliers Research in association with The Times, is the largest and most authoritative annual survey of its kind.

Lancaster University is joint third in the UK for research intensity, which measures the proportion of staff involved in high-quality research. We’re in good company with Cambridge and Oxford.

Our results in the latest Research Excellence Framework (REF2021) confirm our position in delivering world-quality research.

World-class research at Lancaster

In the REF 2021, Lancaster delivers world-quality research, with 91% of our research independently rated as 'internationally excellent' or 'world-leading ', including 46% rated in the highest category of 4*.

Highly rated research environment

99% of Lancaster’s overall research environment is rated world-leading or internationally excellent. This includes areas such as research support, training and facilities.

Growing research income

Since the last REF was completed in 2014, Lancaster has doubled its grant capture. We have also grown in scale, with more than 50% more staff submitted than in 2014.