Students can get used to coming in first at Loughborough — not only in elite sports competitions but in the academic race too. Loughborough’s high achievers have reached the Olympic medal podium and the university is in the top tier of UK academia. Strong results across the board — from research to student satisfaction to graduate employment — keeps Loughborough in the top 20 in our rankings.
The course offering covers a wide range from engineering and computer science to fine art and finance. For sports-related degrees, however, Loughborough is peerless, leading the QS World University Rankings for sport for the ninth consecutive year in 2025. It is Runner-Up for Sports University of the Year 2026.
The university’s 523-acre single-site campus is known for having the UK’s largest concentration of world-class sports facilities and is the base for six national sporting bodies, including British Athletics and England Netball. Less well known is that Loughborough has won its eighth consecutive Green Flag Award in 2025.
What is Loughborough University’s reputation?
Sporting dominance is Loughborough’s calling card. The university topped the British Universities and Colleges Sport (Bucs) table in 2024-25 for the 44th consecutive time. Take the Paris 2024 Olympic Games: if Loughborough were a country, the medal haul of its athletes and alumni across all events (including Paralympics) would have put Loughborough in the top 20, ahead of Brazil, Austria, South Africa and Jamaica.
Studies on sport and exercise science also got exceptional results in the latest Research Excellence Framework (REF 2021) in which 91 per cent of Loughborough’s work was rated world-leading or internationally excellent. Greater gains elsewhere, however, meant that the university fell four places to 34th in our research quality index.
Loughborough’s academic excellence was confirmed with a rare triple gold in the government’s latest Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF 2023), earning the highest rating for student experience, student outcomes, and overall quality. The TEF panel commended the university’s “outstanding teaching, feedback and assessment practices”.
While student satisfaction remains high, a dip in the National Student Survey puts it in 14th place for the wider student experience (down from third) and 67= for teaching quality (down from 32nd).
What degree courses have been discontinued and what new courses are available?
The university is evolving its curriculum, introducing a computer science and cybersecurity programme in 2025 and a new law degree from 2026. A BA degree in liberal arts accepted its final intake in September 2025.
What are Loughborough University’s entry requirements — and my chances of getting in?
Standard offers range from A*AA to BBC at A-level. A contextual offer scheme can reduce this by up to two grades for eligible applicants and 10 per cent of entrants benefited in 2024. Loughborough will take contextual information into account before giving a final yes or no. Demand is high, with more than 31,600 applications for just under 5,000 places in the last admissions cycle.
What are the graduate prospects?
Loughborough’s deep-rooted industry links translate into outstanding graduate outcomes. The university runs one of the UK’s largest careers fairs and two thirds of its undergraduates are on degree programmes that include a placement year. This focus on employability helps it rank 11th in our analysis of the Graduate Outcomes survey, with 86.3 per cent of graduates in highly skilled work or postgraduate study 15 months after finishing their degree.
What is Loughborough University's campus like?
Decades of investment have created an environment where all students, including elite athletes, can flourish. The world-class sports facilities are constantly improving, including a 50m swimming pool, now decarbonised — one of two British Swimming National Centres — and the newly extended Powerbase gym, one of the largest elite strength and conditioning facilities in the country, used by Olympic, Paralympic and world champion athletes. Loughborough’s human performance laboratories, nutritional analysis and sports medicine services are world-class.
The academic facilities are equally impressive, with new digital laboratories featuring robotics, AI, and motion-capture technology. The university also has a postgraduate campus at the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in London.
When can I visit?
lboro.ac.uk
Everything you need to know about Loughborough University’s student life and wellbeing support
Think of any sport … Loughborough will cater for it. Students can sign up for gym membership for between £35 and £320 per academic year or pay as you go (fitness sessions or a swim for £5.50). As well as the pool and gyms, fine facilities include indoor centres for athletics, tennis and cricket, an outdoor athletics stadium, sports halls and all-weather pitches, squash, badminton and netball courts.
But Loughborough is about more than sport. The university’s arts programme hosts live performances, workshops, artists’ talks, exhibitions and more across a range of creative forms from pottery, painting and creative writing to music, dance and drama. With the university’s African violet sports kit colourway casting a purple haze across most campus gatherings, the students’ union hosts a string of high-energy social events. The larger cities of Leicester and Nottingham are not far away.
For those struggling with their mental health, a duty assessment team responds in a crisis and therapy is available one-to-one or in groups.
What do the students say?
“Loughborough is a vibrant campus with excellent facilities beyond sport. The courses allow flexibility to take modules outside of your subject area. The family feel of halls and the opportunities offered by the students’ union make Loughborough one of the best places to create a second home.”
Rachael Alvey, Loughborough students’ union president, BA English with creative writing and MA creative writing and the writing industries graduate
What about student accommodation at Loughborough University?
Loughborough has more than 6,000 rooms across 17 halls of residence and more than half are catered — a rarity on UK campuses. The university guarantees accommodation to all first-years who apply by the July deadline.
How diverse and inclusive is Loughborough University?
Loughborough is in the lower ranks of the top 100 (97th) for social inclusion overall with just 66.5 per cent of students drawn from non-selective state schools (103rd). It has improved the share of ethnic minority students to 29.6 per cent (56th).
Everything you need to know about scholarships and bursaries at Loughborough University
About 18 per cent of new students receive financial assistance. The Loughborough University Bursary pays £1,000 a year — plus a £500 pre-placement grant — to students from households with incomes up to £30,000. Up to 50 students a year receive £3,000 a year if they complete certain access scheme requirements. Women in Science bursaries have been introduced to encourage greater participation. Scholarships are available for those who show talent in a range of sports, paying up to £5,000 to applicants competing at junior international level.
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