Discover key facts about 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 2025 - we were ranked 34th.
- The Complete University Guide 2025 - we were ranked 37th overall, and 5th in the South East.
- Times Higher Education (THE) World University Rankings 2024 - Royal Holloway’s score puts us in the top 400 in the world, and 38th 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.
National Student Survey (NSS)
- Overall percentages of positivity across all questions for the University has been highly rated every year. Our overall percentage of positivity in the most recent survey was 80.8% (2024) up from 77.9% last year (2023).
- Our 81% average for the 27 questions this year positions us 60th out of the 122 institutions this year, compared to all providers listed in The Guardian University Guide League Table 2024.
Student numbers
- We have a total of 12,597 students.
- Of these, 10,397 are from the UK (including Channel Islands and I.O.M), 394 are from the European Union (EU), and 1,808 are international (outside the EU) students.
- We have 10,862 undergraduates, 1,147 postgraduate taught and 588 postgraduate research students.
(Figures shown are full-time equivalent. Excludes Writing-up PhD students. Please note these numbers do not include students starting a course with us in January 2025. The above figures will be updated accordingly in February.)
Staff numbers
- We have 1,869 established members of staff working at Royal Holloway across academic, administrative and support areas (Dec 2023).
- In addition, we have visiting teachers, student interns and student staff who work across campus. Our staff widely represent countries across the world.
Alumni
- There are over 100,000 alumni of Bedford College, Royal Holloway College and Royal Holloway and Bedford New College worldwide.
- Notable alumni include novelist George Eliot, suffragette Emily Davison, the first woman doctor in the west Dr Elizabeth Blackwell, actor Mark Strong, EU Foreign Minister Baroness Cathy Ashton, broadcaster and scientist David Bellamy and Paralympic triple gold medallist Sophie Christiansen.
Campus
- With our spectacular Founder’s Building and famous Picture Gallery, our campus has been named as one of the most beautiful campuses in the world
- It’s situated in 135 acres of parkland in Egham, Surrey.
- This is 19 miles from central London and seven miles from Heathrow Airport.
- We also have our Central London campus at Bedford Square, Stewart House and Senate House in Bloomsbury.
Income and expenditure
See Financial information for details of where our money comes from and how we spend it and our overall economic impact.
Our motto and coat of arms
- Our coat of arms celebrates the heritage of Bedford College, founded in 1849 by Elizabeth Jesser Reid and Royal Holloway College, founded in 1886 by Thomas Holloway
- The two colleges merged in 1985 to form who we are today - Royal Holloway, University of London
- Our motto ‘Esse quam videri’ means 'to be rather than to seem'.
