From education to employment

University of Oxford is more prestigious than Cambridge, say Brits

Hertford Bridge, University of Oxford

A new YouGov Omnibus survey reveals that Oxford is far more likely than Cambridge to be seen as the UK’s most prestigious university.

Asked which university they believe deserves that accolade, four in ten Brits (41%) awarded it to Oxford, compared to just 23% for Cambridge. A further 7% of Brits opted for “some other university”, while the remaining 30% answered “don’t know”.

The results are broadly similar across all sections of society. Only among 18-24 year olds are the results radically different, with Oxford on 29% to Cambridge’s 28%.

Graduates are more likely to rate Cambridge as the better of the two universities – although Oxford still wins by 39% to 27% (and 10% for other institutions).

Scots are the most likely to have answered “some other university”, at 15% – perhaps being more likely to consider a Scottish institution like the University of Edinburgh.

Ben Glanville, Head of YouGov Omnibus UK, said:

“Together Oxford and Cambridge universities are seen as the pinnacle of UK higher education excellence on both a national and international level, and the pair are often treated like a single entity. However, our results do show that people do favour one over the other in terms of prestige.

Ironically, in the Times Higher Education’s World University Rankings Cambridge has always placed higher than Oxford on their reputation measure (although Oxford has consistently been judged better overall).”

About this survey: The sample size for this survey is 1640. The fieldwork was carried out online on August 15-16th.

About YouGovAn international, full-service market research agency and is the pioneer of market research through online methods. Our suite of syndicated, proprietary data products includes: BrandIndex, the daily brand perception tracker; Profiles, our new tool for media planning, market segmentation and forecasting; and Reports which provide comprehensive market intelligence on a range of sectors. The market-leading YouGov Omnibus provides a fast and cost- effective service for obtaining answers to research questions from both national and selected samples. Our custom research business conducts a wide range of quantitative and qualitative research, tailored to our specialist teams to meet our clients’ specific requirements.

YouGov has a panel of 3 million people worldwide, including over 600,000 people in the UK representing all ages, socio-economic groups and other demographic types.

As the most quoted market research agency in the UK, YouGov has a well-documented and published track record illustrating the accuracy of its survey methods.


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