The Best Universities for Psychology in the UK (2025)

There are many reasons why someone might want to study Psychology at a university in the UK. Here are just a few:

• Studying in the UK allows students to benefit from access to world-renowned psychology departments at some of the best universities, such as Oxford University, University of Cambridge and King's College London.
• Many universities offer courses specifically tailored towards international students who wish to pursue a degree in Psychology within the UK's multicultural society.
• A Masters degree from a UK university can significantly enhance job prospects due to high regard for British education across global job markets.
• The British Psychological Society (BPS) accreditation provides assurance of quality when selecting your course of study; this ensures that all courses are up-to-date with the latest research findings and teaching practices.

The following tables gives the 10 top universities in the UK for Psychology, according to global and local university rankings. It can show you which British universities are amongst the best in the world - and help you compare institutions on an international level.

This information is based on the latest rankings tables, researched and published by Times Higher Education, QS and Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU).

Each ranking system uses its own methodology, with different factors having more or less influence on a university's result.

For more information on using international rankings as a postgraduate, see our guide.

The Times Higher Education rankings are strong in academic focus and diverse teaching metrics, but do not include employer-specific metrics. Additionally, the rankings may not include all specialist institutions.

The QS World University Rankings are designed to meet the needs of prospective students, with more weight given to student-centric metrics such as staff/student ratio, international recruitment and employer opinion. The rankings are balanced between qualitative and quantitative data, but give less weight to research than some other rankings.

The ARWU rankings reflect the presence of elite academics and the future academic success of graduates. However, they do not directly assess the quality of education at a university or take into account other aspects of university performance.