London School of Economics and Political Science most likely to get you a career at a world-leading company.
According to research conducted by international education provider Oxford Royale, the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) is the best university to attend for a career at a world-leading firm.
The study was compiled by analysing LinkedIn data to find the number of Alumni from the 24 Russell Group universities who are now working at some of the world’s most prestigious companies, which were determined by the UK’s 50 biggest companies by revenue and the Top 60 World’s Most Attractive Employers. The number was then converted to a percentage, revealing LSE at the top.
More than 240,000 people list themselves as graduates of the university on LinkedIn, and just over seven percent of those state on their profile that they work at one of the companies included in the analysis.
The University of Warwick comes second, with more than six percent of its alumni currently employed by world-class firms like Google, Deloitte and Unilever.
In third place is the Imperial College London. Just over six percent of people who hold a degree from the university are now working at some of the world’s most prestigious businesses.
Durham University is the Russell Group university with the fourth highest percentage (nearly six percent) of alumni working for top employers, while the University of Nottingham comes fifth place, with almost five percent of its graduates working for the best companies.
If you want to work in the financial sector, LSE is the best Russell Group university to study at, as nearly 2,500 of its alumni are currently working in some of the world’s top finance companies, including Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and the Bank of America.
Additionally, LSE takes the lead for having the Russell Group’s highest percentage of graduates currently working at Google. Nearly 400 alumni name the internet giant as their employer on their LinkedIn profile.
According to the data, Russell Group alumni are most likely to work for Deloitte, which ranked seventh on the Fortune Best Big Companies to work for in 2021. Compared to all the companies on the list, the firm employs the highest percentage of graduates from 19 of the 24 Russell Group universities.
More than 1,500 LSE graduates are employed by Deloitte – the highest percentage on the list – followed by the University of Warwick, which comes second.
If you’re inspired by AstraZeneca’s pioneering COVID-19 vaccine response, the University of Manchester offers a promising path, with more than 500 of its alumni working for the pharmaceutical company. That’s the highest percentage of any university on the list.
The Russell Group university that’s produced the highest percentage of alumni currently working at Microsoft is the Imperial College London, with 233 graduates naming the technology company as their employer on LinkedIn.
“It is fascinating to see the path that graduates of top universities are most likely to take in their careers,” says Oxford Royale Academy (ORA) CEO & Founder, William Humphreys. “Earning a place at a Russell Group institution is a challenge, and it doesn’t stop there once students are graduating and finding their way in the working world. Therefore, planning and preparing for professional life is key to give a student the best chance.”
What are the best universities to attend for a career at world-leading firms?
Here’s how the 24 Russell group universities rank, according to how many graduates now work at world-class companies:
| Rank | University | Top employer at university | Number from university working for employer | Percentage from university working for employer |
| 1 | London School of Economics & Political Science | Deloitte | 1,546 | 7.33% |
| 2 | University of Warwick | Deloitte | 740 | 6.30% |
| 3 | Imperial College London | Deloitte | 458 | 6.27% |
| 4 | Durham University | Deloitte | 733 | 5.97% |
| 5 | University of Nottingham | Deloitte | 792 | 4.79% |
| 6 | University of Bristol | Deloitte | 602 | 4.74% |
| 7 | Queen Mary, University of London | EY | 344 | 4.53% |
| 8 | University of York | Deloitte | 340 | 4.50% |
| 9 | University of Exeter | Deloitte | 580 | 4.47% |
| 10 | University College London | EY | 689 | 4.40% |
| 11 | University of Southampton | Deloitte | 490 | 4.37% |
| 12 | University of Oxford | Deloitte | 723 | 4.35% |
| 13 | University of Manchester | Deloitte | 884 | 4.33% |
| 14 | University of Edinburgh | Deloitte | 507 | 4.22% |
| 15 | University of Birmingham | Deloitte | 696 | 4.21% |
| 16 | University of Cambridge | Deloitte | 843 | 4.21% |
| 17 | Queen’s University Belfast | PwC | 625 | 4.08% |
| 18 | University of Glasgow | Deloitte | 323 | 4.02% |
| 19 | University of Leeds | Deloitte | 636 | 3.86% |
| 20 | Newcastle University | PwC | 494 | 3.83% |
| 21 | King’s College London | EY | 531 | 3.78% |
| 22 | University of Sheffield | Deloitte | 437 | 3.70% |
| 23 | Cardiff University | Deloitte | 529 | 3.54% |
| 24 | University of Liverpool | Deloitte | 340 | 3.36% |
What are some of the world’s most prestigious companies?
Google has come a long way since it was founded by Larry Page and Sergey Brin on 4th September 1998.
Specialising in internet-related products and services, including a search engine, online advertising technologies and software, it is now considered one of the Big Five companies in the American IT industry, along with Apple, Amazon, Facebook and Microsoft.
At the end of 2020, Google’s parent company, Alphabet, had 135,301 full-time employees.
Microsoft
Founded by Bill Gates and Paul Allen on 4th April 1975, Microsoft is another of the Big Five companies.
The multinational technology corporation’s best known software products include the Microsoft Windows operating systems, the Microsoft Office suite and the Internet Explorer browser.
The company ranked 15 in the Fortune 500 2021 list and it currently employs around 181,000 people in full-time positions around the world.
Deloitte
This professional services firm was founded in London way back in 1845 and expanded into the United States in 1890.
It’s one of the Big Four accounting organisations and it’s the largest professional services network in the world, providing audit, financial advisory, risk advisory, consulting, tax and legal services.
In 2020, Forbes named Deloitte as the third-largest privately owned company in America, and there are currently 345,000 employees working for the firm globally.
