The Russell Group is a self-selected association of twenty-four public research universities in the United Kingdom. The group is headquartered in Cambridge and was established in 1994 to represent its members' interests, principally to government and parliament. It was incorporated in 2007. Its members are often perceived as being the UK's best universities, which has been widely disputed.
Russell Group members receive over three-quarters of all university research grant and contract income in the United Kingdom. Russell Group members award 60% of all doctorates gained in the United Kingdom. In the 2021 Research Excellence Framework, Russell Group universities accounted for 65% of all world-leading (4*) research conducted in the UK, and 91% of the Russell Group's research was judged to be world-leading (4*) or internationally excellent (3*). In the 2023 Teaching Excellence and Student Outcomes Framework (TEF), of the 20 English Russell Group universities which were assessed, 7 hold gold awards (35%) and 13 silver (65%). This compares to proportions across 128 higher education institutions of which 29% hold gold, 62% silver, and 9% bronze. Their graduates hold 61% of all UK jobs that require a university degree, despite being only 17% of all higher education graduates.
The Russell Group is named after the location of the first informal meetings of the Group, which took place at the Hotel Russell in Russell Square, London.
History The Russell Group of universities was formed in 1994 by 17 British research universities – Birmingham, Bristol, Cambridge, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Imperial College London, Leeds, Liverpool, London School of Economics, Manchester, Newcastle, Nottingham, Oxford, Sheffield, Southampton, University College London and Warwick, who originally met at Hotel Russell shortly before meetings of the Committee of Vice-Chancellors and Principals (now Universities UK) in nearby Tavistock Square, close to the University of London buildings and, particularly, Senate House. With the exception of Warwick (established in the 1960s), the founder members of the group were all universities or university colleges prior to World War I, including most of Britain's ancient universities and "redbrick universities". In 1998, Cardiff University and King's College London joined the group.
In March 2001, the Russell Group decided against selecting a preferred option for the future funding of higher education, stating that endowments, a graduate contribution, increased public funding and top-up fees should all remain options. In December 2005, it was announced that the Russell Group would be appointing its first full-time director-general as a result of a planned expansion of its operations, including commissioning and conducting its own policy research. In November 2006, Queen's University Belfast was admitted as the twentieth member of the group. In the same month Wendy Piatt, the then deputy director in the Prime Minister's strategy unit, was announced as the group's new Director General and chief executive.
In March 2012, it was announced that four universities – Durham, Exeter, Queen Mary University of London; and York – would become members of the Russell Group in August of the same year. All of the new members had previously been members of the 1994 Group of British universities.
In January 2013, it was announced that the Russell Group would establish an academic board to advise the English exams watchdog Ofqual on the content of A-Levels. In 2019, the group launched the website "Informed Choices" to advise school children on which A-level subject choices were useful for various degree courses, replacing an earlier teachers' guide of the same name from 2011 that had identified a list of "facilitating subjects'.
Organisation
Objectives The Russell Group states that "its aim is to help ensure that our universities have the optimum conditions in which to flourish and continue to make social, economic and cultural impacts through their world-leading research and teaching".
It works towards this by lobbying the UK government and parliament; commissioning reports and research; creating a forum in which its member institutions can discuss issues of common concern; and identify opportunities for them to work together.
Leadership The Russell Group is led by Chief Executive Tim Bradshaw and chaired by Chris Day, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Newcastle.
Russell Group chairs 2000–2026 Name Dates Institution Colin Lucas 2000–2003 Oxford Michael Sterling 2003–2006 Birmingham Malcolm Grant 2006–2009 UCL Michael Arthur 2009–2012 Leeds David Eastwood 2012–2015 Birmingham David Greenaway 2015–2017 Nottingham Anton Muscatelli 2017–2020 Glasgow Nancy Rothwell 2020–2023 Manchester Chris Day 2023–2026 Newcastle
Members The Russell Group currently has twenty-four members, of which twenty are from England, two from Scotland, and one from each of Wales and Northern Ireland. Of the English members, five are from Greater London; three from the Yorkshire and the Humber region; two from each of the North East, North West, West Midlands, South West and South East regions; and one from each of the East Midlands and East regions. Four Russell Group members are constituent colleges of the University of London and a fifth London institution, Imperial College London, was part of the University of London until 2007.
The table below gives the members of the group, along with when they joined, their student and staff numbers, and their latest Teaching Excellence Framework overall rating (non-English universities were not assessed).
UniversityNation Year of joining Undergraduate students (2021/22) Postgraduate students (2021/22) Total students (2021/22) Total academic staff (2022/23) TEF awardEngland199425,15012,84037,9903,195Silver†England199423,0558,42531,4852,830SilverEngland199413,6458,96022,6104,935Gold*Wales199823,76510,22033,9852,540England201217,3954,83522,2301,745SilverScotland199426,00015,24541,2504,200England201223,7558,71032,4652,320Gold*Scotland199423,46019,52042,9803,155England199411,7409,73021,4703,715Gold‡England199823,22518,27041,4903,850SilverEngland199427,01510,17537,1903,040Silver†England199422,2656,41528,6802,440Gold‡England19945,5757,40012,9751,095SilverEngland199430,90015,50546,4104,195SilverEngland199420,7606,52027,2802,525Silver†England199428,6908,57037,2602,870SilverEngland199415,68511,61027,2906,005Gold*N. Ire.200617,9707,32525,2951,775‡England201217,4308,61526,0452,065Silver†England199420,04010,82030,8602,855SilverEngland199415,1108,68523,7952,060Silver‡England199423,80023,03046,8306,460SilverEngland199418,9559,87028,8252,270Gold*England201215,3508,07023,4201,810Gold
Notes: ‡ Member institution of the University of London, awarding its own degrees * Achieved 'Gold' rating in all three categories of the assessment † Achieved overall 'Silver' rating with one category rated 'Bronze'
Status Research In 2022/23, following the 2021 Research Excellence Framework (REF), the English universities of the Russell Group saw their share of recurring research funding from Research England drop by 2.71 percentage points from the 2021/22 funding (based on the previous 2014 REF) to 68.21 per cent, although most institutions saw a rise in actual funding levels due to an overall increase in funding. The top 19 English institutions in terms of funding continued to all be from the Russell Group, with the top 20 being rounded off, as before, by Lancaster. The LSE was, as in previous REF rounds, the exception, ranking 31st in terms of funding (down from 23rd in 2021/11) and seeing a nine per cent fall (£1.7 million) in its allocation.
In 2015/16, following the 2014 REF, the 19 English universities with HEFCE research funding allocations (excluding transitional funding) in excess of £20 million were all members of the Russell Group. The only English Russell Group institution to receive an allocation below £20 million was the LSE (£18.6 million), which ranked 22nd behind the Universities of Leicester and Lancaster (both on £19 million).
In 2010/11, 19 of the 20 UK universities with the highest income from research grants and contracts were members of the Russell Group. In terms of total research funding allocations from the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) in 2007/8, the top 15 universities were all Russell Group institutions. LSE was 21st, due to its focus on less costly social sciences research. Queen's University Belfast, Cardiff, Glasgow and Edinburgh, were not included in this table, as they are not English institutions. The Russell Group institutions received 82% of the total HEFCE research funding allocation.
The research funding figures depend on factors other than the quality of research, in particular there are variations due to institutional size and subject spread (e.g. science, technology and medicine tend to attract more money).
In 2008, 18 of the then 20 members were positioned in the top 20 of Research Fortnight's Research Assessment Exercise 'Power' Table. The other two places were occupied by Durham University and Queen Mary University of London, which were not then Russell Group members but have since joined. The two Russell Group institutions outside the top 20 were QUB (21st) and the LSE (27th), while the other two universities to have since joined were York (22nd) and Exeter (25th). In the equivalent table for the 2014 Research Excellence Framework, the 24 Russell Group members occupied the top 24 positions, with the University of Lancaster in 25th being the highest-ranked non-Russell Group university.
Rankings
In 2023, all eight UK universities in the ARWU top 100, seventeen of the eighteen in the QS top 100 (the other place being occupied by the University of St Andrews), and all ten in the THE top 100 are members of the Russell Group. The Russell Group provides seven of the top ten in the Complete, Guardian, and Times/Sunday Times.
University ARWU 2024 (Global) QS 2026 (Global) THE 2026 (Global) Complete 2025 (National) Guardian 2025 (National) Times/Sunday Times 2024 (National) University of Birmingham 151–200 76 98= 12 36 22 University of Bristol 97 51 80= 16 16 16 University of Cambridge 5 6 3= 1 3 3 Cardiff University 151–200 181 201-250 27 46 25Durham University 301–400 94= 175 6 6 7 University of Edinburgh 40 34 29 15 15 13 University of Exeter 151–200 155= 170= 14 18 11 University of Glasgow 101–150 79 84 29 14 12 Imperial College London 25 2 8 5 5 5 King's College London 53 31 38 24 28 27 University of Leeds 151–200 86 118 23 37 24 University of Liverpool 101–150 147= 143 18= 27 29= London School of Economics 151–200 56 52 3 4 4 University of Manchester 52 35 56 22 31 23 Newcastle University 201–300 137 144 26 63 37 University of Nottingham 101–150 97 145= 30 62 32 University of Oxford 6 4 1 2 1 2 Queen Mary University of London 201–300 110= 134= 50 74 46 Queen's University Belfast 301–400 199= 198 25 43 31 University of Sheffield 151–200 92 108= 18= 20 18 University of Southampton 151–200 87 129 20 22 17 University College London 16 9 22 9 9 6 University of Warwick 101–150 74 122= 10 8 9 University of York 301–400 169 154= 17 25 15
Selectivity
All but two of the universities in the Russell Group are part of the Sutton Trust's group of 30 highly selective universities, the Sutton 30 (the absent members being Queen Mary University of London and Queen's University Belfast). The Sutton 13 group of the 13 most highly selective universities only includes one non-Russell Group member, the University of St Andrews.