scores of 22 points or above stretching back to 1998, six of which were maximum scores.
Leicester was ranked joint first in the 2005, 2006, and 2007 National Student Survey for overall student satisfaction among mainstream universities in England. It was second only to Cambridge in 2008 and again joint first in 2009.
=== Rankings and reputation ===
The university was named University of the Year in 2008 by the Times Higher Education.
The university has consistently been ranked among the top 20 universities in the United Kingdom by the Times Good University Guide and The Guardian. In September 2025, it was announced that the university had maintained its top 30 ranking within the UK, according to The Times and The Sunday Times Good University Guide 2026. In October 2025, the university was ranked within the top 30 in the world for research quality, according to the Times Higher Education World University Rankings for 2026.
=== Research ===
The university has research groups in the areas of astrophysics, biochemistry and genetics. The techniques used in genetic fingerprinting were invented and developed at Leicester in 1984 by Sir Alec Jeffreys. It also houses Europe's biggest academic centre for space research, in which space probes have been built, most notably the Mars Lander Beagle 2, which was built in collaboration with the Open University.
Leicester Physicists (led by Ken Pounds) were critical in demonstrating a fundamental prediction of Albert Einstein's General Theory of Relativity – that black holes exist and are common in the universe. It is a founding partner of the £52 million National Space Centre.
Leicester is one of a small number of universities to have won the prestigious Queen's Anniversary Prize for Higher Education on more than one occasion: in 1994 for physics & astronomy and again in 2002 for genetics.
The 2014 Research Excellence Framework (REF) exercise for the School of Archaeology and Ancient History, 74% of research activity, including 100% of its Research Environment, was classed …
