Music at Royal Holloway is celebrating after securing a top-five position in the 2027 Complete University Guide.
According to the newly published rankings, Music has risen two places from seventh to fifth in the UK, placing the department among an elite group of institutions. Only the universities of Cambridge, Durham, Manchester, and Oxford rank above.
This latest result reflects the department’s continuing strength in research, student satisfaction, and graduate prospects, reinforcing its reputation as one of the leading centres for musical study in the country.
What is the Complete University Guide?
The Complete University Guide (CUG) is one of the three most influential and trusted university league tables in the United Kingdom, alongside the rankings published by The Times and The Guardian.
It is an annual publication designed primarily to help prospective undergraduate students make informed decisions about where to apply, especially during key periods like Clearing.
The CUG differs from global rankings like QS or THE by focusing less on a university's international reputation and more on the student experience and teaching quality from a UK perspective . The rankings are compiled using publicly available data from sources such as the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) and the National Student Survey (NSS).
For the main league table, universities are assessed across ten distinct metrics :
- Entry Standards: The average grades (e.g., A-Level, Scottish Highers) of new students.
- Student Satisfaction: How students rate their course and teaching.
- Research Quality & Research Intensity: The quality of research and the proportion of staff involved.
- Graduate Prospects: Graduate outcomes and whether they are 'on track' (employment or further study).
- Student-Staff Ratio: The number of academic staff available to students.
- Academic Services Spend & Facilities Spend: Investment in library, computing, and campus facilities.
- Continuation: The percentage of students who continue into their second year.
- Subject-Level Rankings
In addition to the overall university position, the CUG also produces subject-specific tables for 74 different disciplines . These rankings use a similar methodology but adjust the metrics to be more relevant to specific fields of study.
