Bangor University has been named the top university in Wales in the 2026 University Compare Rankings.
The University has also made significant progress nationally, rising 49 places to 15th in the UK, placing it firmly within the top 20 universities across the country. This improvement reflects positive developments across multiple areas of our student experience.
The University Compare rankings are based on a combination of verified student reviews and key performance metrics. These include course quality, graduate employability, student life and accommodation.
Bangor University’s 2026 Rankings:
- Top University in Wales – 1st
- Top 100 UK Universities – 15th
- Accommodation – 12th (up 17 places)
- Course Quality – 21st (up 49 places)
- Employability – 28th (up 46 places)
- Student Life – 31st (up 33 places)
The rankings reflect feedback from the student community, University Compare uses a review-based methodology, collecting tens of thousands of ratings from students across four key areas. Reviews are scored on a scale of 1 to 5, and rankings are calculated using a weighted system—similar to platforms such as TripAdvisor or Airbnb.
Bangor University also ranked 1st in the UK for Medicine and Dentistry in the subject-specific rankings, reflecting the highest of student satisfaction in these disciplines.
Professor Nicky Callow, Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Education & Student Experience), said, “These results highlight the quality of our teaching, the strength of our support services, and the positive relationship we have with our students. I am particularly pleased to see the improvements related to employability and student life as we have been working extremely hard in these areas across the institution. As staff are aware, we gained six commendations in our recent external Quality Enhancement Review related to our educational delivery and student experience, and it is fabulous to also have the quality of our provision endorsed by our students.”