Durham had 31 of 33 subjects ranked in the top ten. In The Guardian 2025 subject rankings, Durham had 21 of 28 subjects ranked in the top ten.
International
The Times Higher Education World University Rankings for 2025 placed Durham 172nd. In subject area rankings for 2024, Durham was placed 39th in arts and humanities, 201–250 for life sciences, 126–150 for physical sciences, 81st for social sciences, and 101–125 for business and economics. Durham was ranked joint 36th in the Times Higher Education impact ranking for 2024, measuring the impact of universities' research, stewardship, outreach and teaching towards the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals.
The QS World University Rankings 2025 placed Durham 89th in the world, while the QS European University Rankings 2025 placed Durham 27th in Europe. In the QS global subject area rankings for 2024, Durham ranked 42nd for arts and humanities, 290th for engineering and technology, 401–450 for life sciences and medicine, 92nd for natural sciences, and 90th for social sciences and management.
The Shanghai Academic Ranking of World Universities for 2024 placed Durham in the 301–400 range.
== Admissions ==
The average UCAS point score for new entrants in 2022–23 was 181 points, placing Durham University eleventh in the country in terms of entrants' points. Durham's student body consists of 17,120 undergraduates and 4,630 postgraduate students (2023/24). The university gave offers of admission to 48% of its undergraduate applicants in 2022, the 13th lowest offer rate across the country. In the 2023–24 academic year, 31 per cent of students (across all levels of study) came from outside the UK and 54 per cent of students were women.
=== Widening access ===
Durham was criticised in 2017 for not accepting as many students from low participation neighbourhoods, and from state schools, as might be expected from its admission standards and course offerings. For admissions in 2015/16 (the data published in 2017 that sparked the criticism), Durham had the third …
