Today's Royal Holloway is formed from two colleges, founded by two social pioneers, Elizabeth Jesser Reid and Thomas Holloway. They were among the first places in Britain where women could access higher education.

Bedford College, in London, opened its doors in 1849, and Royal Holloway College's stunning Founder's Building was unveiled by Queen Victoria in 1886 – it’s still the focal point of the campus.

In 1900, the colleges became part of the University of London and in 1985 they merged to form what is now known as Royal Holloway.

Academic ranking

• Research Excellence Framework (REF) 2021 - we remain within the top 25% of all UK research in Research Excellence Framework 2021.


• In Times Higher Education’s (THE) analysis and rankings of the REF 2021 results (May 2022), Royal Holloway is ranked 15 in the UK for the overall quality of its research outputs.

UK league table rankings

• The Times and Sunday Times Good University Guide 2024 - we were ranked 29th.


• The Guardian University Guide 2024 - we were ranked 47th.


• The Complete University Guide 2024 - we were ranked 37th.


• Times Higher Education (THE) World University Rankings 2024 - Royal Holloway’s score puts us in the top 400 in the world, and joint 41st overall in the UK.


• Royal Holloway is placed 36th in the UK in the category of 'International Outlook': recognising our broader outlook as a global university. The rankings use three separate indicators to judge 'international outlook' - international staff ratio; international student ratio; and proportion of internationally co‐authored research papers.