The golden triangle is the triangle formed by the university cities of

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a List of cities in the United Kingdom, city and non-metropolitan district in the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It is the county town of Cambridgeshire and is located on the River Cam, north of London. As of the 2021 Unit ...

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

, and

Oxford Oxford () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and non-metropolitan district in Oxfordshire, England, of which it is the county town. The city is home to the University of Oxford, the List of oldest universities in continuou ...

in the south east of

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

in the United Kingdom. The triangle is occasionally referred to as the Loxbridge triangle, a

portmanteau In linguistics, a blend—also known as a blend word, lexical blend, or portmanteau—is a word formed by combining the meanings, and parts of the sounds, of two or more words together.

of London and

Oxbridge Oxbridge is a portmanteau of the University of Oxford, Universities of Oxford and University of Cambridge, Cambridge, the two oldest, wealthiest, and most prestigious universities in the United Kingdom. The term is used to refer to them collect ...

or, when limited to five members, the G5. The list of universities considered to be members of the golden triangle varies between sources, but typically comprises the

University of Cambridge The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...

, the

University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a collegiate university, collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the List of oldest un ...

Imperial College London Imperial College London, also known as Imperial, is a Public university, public research university in London, England. Its history began with Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, Prince Albert, husband of Queen Victoria, who envisioned a Al ...

King's College London King's College London (informally King's or KCL) is a public university, public research university in London, England. King's was established by royal charter in 1829 under the patronage of George IV of the United Kingdom, King George IV ...

, the

London School of Economics The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), established in 1895, is a public research university in London, England, and a member institution of the University of London. The school specialises in the social sciences. Founded ...

and

University College London University College London (Trade name, branded as UCL) is a Public university, public research university in London, England. It is a Member institutions of the University of London, member institution of the Federal university, federal Uni ...

. Some sources omit either or both of King's College London and the London School of Economics; while occasionally other universities are included, e.g. the

London Business School London Business School (LBS) is a business school and a constituent college of the federal University of London. LBS was founded in 1964 and awards post-graduate degrees (Master's degree, Master's degrees in management and finance, Master of B ...

and the

London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine The London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) is a public university, public research university in Bloomsbury, central London, and a constituent college, member institution of the University of London that specialises in public hea ...

, or all of the higher education institutions in the three cities.

Members

The universities typically considered members of the golden triangle are amongst the longest established universities in England and possess some of the largest financial endowments across the United Kingdom. Total enrolments for the academic year range from about 12,900 at LSE to 51,400 at UCL, with UCL being the second-largest university in the United Kingdom by total enrolment. Notes:
^† Only 2022/23 endowment figures available for Cambridge

Research income

With the exception of the LSE, the five other institutions typically considered members of the golden triangle have among the highest research incomes of all British universities, ranking in the top seven of British universities by research grant and contract income (along with

Manchester Manchester () is a city and the metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. It had an estimated population of in . Greater Manchester is the third-most populous metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, with a population of 2.92&nbs ...

and

Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...

) and in the top six of English universities by Research England recurrent funding (along with Manchester). These five institutions all have significant fractions of their research grant and contract income from clinical medicine, varying (in 2021/22) from 41.7% (Cambridge) to 63.6% (King's College London), compared to an average across the UK of 34.4%. Overall, 50.9% of the 2020/21 research grant and contract income of the five institutions (50.0% if the LSE is included) came from clinical medicine research, and they accounted for 34.7% of all research grant and contract income of UK universities in 2020/21 (35.2% if the LSE is included). Each university receives millions of pounds in research fundings and other grants from the UK government, criticised by leaders of some other universities as disproportionate and not in the best interests of the country as a whole. In 2013/14, universities in Oxford, Cambridge and London received 46% of research funding in the UK, up from 42.6% a decade earlier. Following the 2021

Research Excellence Framework The Research Excellence Framework (REF) is a research impact evaluation of British Higher Education Institutions (HEIs). It is the successor to the Research Assessment Exercise and it was first used in 2014 to assess the period 2008–2013. REF is ...

(REF), the golden triangle universities saw a fall in their share of Quality Research funding (recurring funding based on the REF results rather than grants or other sources) from Research England. Analysis by Times Higher Education showed that the share of funding going to the golden triangle (not including the LSE in this analysis) fell from 35.36 per cent in 2020/21 under the previous REF to 33.05 per cent in 2021/22, although the actual funding the institutions received increased due to an overall increase in funding levels and the five universities remained (with

) the top six institutions by share of funding. The LSE saw a decrease in actual funding of 9.03 per cent, leading to a 0.28 percentage point fall in its share of funding to 0.85 per cent, placing it below the post-92

Northumbria University Northumbria University (legally the University of Northumbria at Newcastle) is a Public research university, public research university located in Newcastle upon Tyne, North East England, North East of England. It has been a university since 199 ...

. In 2004, the G5 universities consisting of Cambridge, Imperial, LSE, Oxford and UCL were accused of secretly coordinating bids for an increased share of any extra money made available in the government's summer 2004 spending review. The objective was to secure extra state funding above the £3,000 student top-up fees planned in England from 2006 to cover the full costs of home and European Union undergraduates on their courses. This has been attributed to the universities stating they are offering ''no cheap courses'', and that they would have to reduce their intake of UK students without the additional income. The balance of funding between the 'golden triangle' and the rest of the UK has been questioned, and was specifically included in the terms of reference for an enquiry in 2018 by the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the Bicameralism, bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of ...

Science and Technology Select Committee. According to defenders of the level of funding going to the golden triangle institutions, "The apparent concentration of research in the golden triangle is little more than a reflection of the distribution of people in the UK". Analysis of grant proposals to

Research Councils UK Research Councils UK, sometimes known as RCUK, was a non-departmental public body that coordinated science policy in the United Kingdom from 2002 to 2018. It was an umbrella organisation that coordinated the seven separate research councils ...

between 2012–13 and 2016–17 has shown that golden triangle institutions do not have unusually high success rates (two are actually below the expected range), but that the northern universities of Durham, Lancaster and

York York is a cathedral city in North Yorkshire, England, with Roman Britain, Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers River Ouse, Yorkshire, Ouse and River Foss, Foss. It has many historic buildings and other structures, such as a Yor ...

do. In February 2022, the UK Government announced as part of its "Levelling Up"

white paper A white paper is a report or guide that informs readers concisely about a complex issue and presents the issuing body's philosophy on the matter. It is meant to help readers understand an issue, solve a problem, or make a decision. Since the 199 ...

that public investment outside of the south east would increase by 40% by 2030, despite warnings from leaders of research-intensive universities that this could reduce the importance of scientific excellence in funding decisions. A report by the Higher Education Policy Institute in 2024 found that research quality was no higher in the golden triangle than elsewhere, concluding that the higher funding levels in the golden triangle "may reflect a retained and somewhat toxic historical and cultural bias towards particular institutions", with lower levels of research activity outside of the southeast reflecting lower levels of investment.

Academics

Admissions

The golden triangle universities are highly selective, with entrance typically requiring strong performances in standardised exams as represented by the average scores of new entrants when converted to UCAS points. Four of the golden triangle universities were in the top ten by entry standards for 2022–23, with UCL coming in 12th and King's coming in 18th. The universities also make up six of the eight British universities by lowest offer rates (the others being 4th-placed St Andrews and 7th-placed Edinburgh). For the 2022 undergraduate admissions cycle, all of the universities reported offer rates, including conditional and unconditional offers, below 40%.

Rankings and reputation

Golden triangle universities generally do well on international rankings, which strongly reflect research performance. Some global rankings, such as those produced by

Times Higher Education ''Times Higher Education'' (''THE''), formerly ''The Times Higher Education Supplement'' (''The THES''), is a British magazine reporting specifically on news and issues related to higher education. Ownership TPG Capital acquired TSL Education ...

(THE) and QS, correct for the sizes of institutions in calculating their results but others, such as the

Academic Ranking of World Universities The ''Academic Ranking of World Universities'' (''ARWU''), also known as the Shanghai Ranking, is one of the annual publications of world university rankings. The league table was originally compiled and issued by Shanghai Jiao Tong Universi ...

(ARWU), make no such adjustment. The Golden Triangle universities generally do well on British university league tables, with Cambridge and Oxford consistently in the top three, and Imperial, LSE and UCL ranked in the top ten by all compilers. King's College London, however, fails to make the top ten in any of the major rankings.

Student demographics

Social class

Students from private education are over-represented at the six institutions. With the exception of King's, the remaining universities reported over 30% of their UK-domiciled student body in 2020-21 composed of private school students. This places the universities among the nine highest UK providers with more than 10,000 students for the proportion of private school students with Imperial in 5th at 32.4% (behind Durham, St Andrews, Edinburgh and Exeter) followed by UCL (32.4%), Oxford (31.4%), LSE (30.4%) and Cambridge (30.0%). Nationally, around 6% of school-aged pupils attend education in the private sector, although this figure increases to 18% for pupils aged 16–19 in England.

Domicile and ethnic background

Among mainstream British higher education institutions, the LSE had the highest proportion of non-UK students in 2023–24 at 63.7% (followed by Hertfordshire and University of the Arts London), UCL in fourth at 52.3% and Imperial at fifth at 50.8%.

Gallery

Notes

References

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