Golden triangle (universities)
The golden triangle is an unofficial grouping of research universities located in the cities of Cambridge, London and Oxford in the southeast of England. The triangle is occasionally referred to as the Loxbridge triangle, a portmanteau of London and Oxbridge.
The corners of the triangle are formed by the University of Cambridge, the University of Oxford and various universities in London. These are typically Imperial College London, University College London, King's College London and the London School of Economics, although some sources omit either or both of King's College London and the London School of Economics. Occasionally other universities in London will also be included, such as the London Business School and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.
Members
Golden triangle universities possess some of the largest UK university financial endowments; endowment sizes range from UCL's £139 million to Cambridge's £6.44 billion Further, 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.| Institution | Location | Undergraduate enrollment | Graduate enrollment | Total enrollment | 2019 Endowment | Academic staff | Motto | Colours |
| University of Cambridge | Cambridge, Cambridgeshire | £6.441 billion | Cambridge Blue | |||||
| Imperial College London | London, Greater London | £178.1 million | 4,390 | Scientia imperii decus et tutamen | ||||
| King's College London | London, Greater London | £258.1 million | 5,220 | Sancte et Sapienter | Blue & King's Red | |||
| London School of Economics | London, Greater London | £155.0 million | 1,725 | Rerum cognoscere causas | Purple, black and gold | |||
| University of Oxford | Oxford, Oxfordshire | £6.1 billion | 6,905 | Dominus Illuminatio Mea | Oxford blue | |||
| University College London | London, Greater London | £138.7 million | 7,700 | Cuncti adsint meritaeque expectent praemia palmae |
Rankings
World
Golden triangle universities generally do well on International rankings, which strongly reflect research performance. The LSE has, however, expressed concerns about a bias in rankings against smaller institutions and in favour of universities with large science, technology, engineering and mathematics programmes. Some global rankings, such as those produced by Times Higher Education and Quacquarelli Symonds, correct for the sizes of institutions in calculating their results but others, such as the Academic Ranking of World Universities, make no such adjustment.| University | THE World | QS World | US News Global | THE Global Employability | Academic Ranking of World Universities |
| University of Cambridge | 3 | 7 | 9 | 4 | 3 |
| Imperial College London | 10 | 9 | 20 | 26 | 23 |
| King's College London | 36 | 33 | 37 | 31 | 51 |
| London School of Economics | 27 | 44 | 259 | 72 | 151-200 |
| University of Oxford | 1 | 4 | 5 | 11 | 7 |
| University College London | 15 | 8 | 21 | 105 | 15 |
National
The Golden Triangle universities generally do well on British university league tables, with Cambridge and Oxford consistently first and second, and Imperial and UCL ranked in the top ten by all compilers. The LSE, however, misses out on a top ten place in the Guardian University Guide, whileKing's College London fails to make the top ten except in the Times Higher Education employability survey of UK recruiters.
In The Sunday Times' 10-year average ranking of British universities based on consistent league table performance; Cambridge, Oxford, LSE, Imperial and UCL claimed the top 5 positions whilst King's was placed joint 14th. With the exception of King's, the remaining members of the Golden Triangle have never left the top 15 in one of the three main domestic rankings between 2008 and 2017.
| University | THE Table of Tables | Complete | THE UK Employability | Guardian | The Times |
| University of Cambridge | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Imperial College London | 4 | 5 | 3 | 7 | 4 |
| King's College London | N/A | 25 | 4 | 63 | 28 |
| London School of Economics | 9 | 4 | 6 | 19 | 11 |
| University of Oxford | 2 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 2 |
| University College London | 13 | 10 | 8 | 22 | 7 |
Research income
The institutions typically considered members of the triangle have among the highest research incomes of all British universities and collaborate closely through initiatives such as the G5, Global Medical Cluster, MedCity, and SES. With the exception of the LSE, significant fractions of their research income come from clinical medicine, varying from 38.2% to 58.9%, compared to an average across the UK of 33.7%. Overall, 48.1% of the research income of the six institutions comes from clinical medicine research. Overall, 31.9% of all research income of UK universities in 2018/19 went to one of the golden triangle institutions.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 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 between 2012–13 and 2016–17 has shown that golden triangle institutions do not have unusually high success rates, but that the northern universities of Durham, Lancaster and York do.
| Rank | University | Research income | Research income in clinical medicine | Research income as proportion of total income |
| 1 | University of Oxford | 624.8 | 328.8 | 25.5 |
| 2 | University of Cambridge | 592.4 | 226.2 | 27.0 |
| 3 | University College London | 481.1 | 257.3 | 32.4 |
| 4 | Imperial College London | 368.0 | 175.6 | 34.3 |
| 8 | King's College London | 194.7 | 114.6 | 21.6 |
| 42 | London School of Economics | 33.3 | 0.0 | 7.9 |