Golden triangle (universities) Information

The golden triangle is an unofficial grouping of research universities located in the cities of Cambridge, London and Oxford in the southeast of England.[note 1] 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, Kings College London and the London School of Economics,[note 2] although some sources omit either or both of Kings College London[note 3] and the London School of Economics.[note 4] Occasionally other universities in London will also be included, such as the London Business School and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.

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 (GMEC),MedCity, and SES. 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. Defenders of the level of funding going to the golden triangle institutions have pointed out that "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 (two are actually below the expected range), but that the northern universities of Durham, Lancaster and York do.

Golden triangle universities possess some of the largest UK university financial endowments; endowment sizes range from UCLs £101 million (2016) to Oxfords £5.07 billion (including colleges) 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.

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 (THE) and Quacquarelli Symonds (QS), correct for the sizes of institutions in calculating their results but others, such as the Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU), make no such adjustment.

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, whileKings 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 (1998–2007) average ranking of British universities based on consistent league table performance; Cambridge, Oxford, LSE, Imperial and UCL (in order) claimed the top 5 positions whilst Kings was placed joint 14th. With the exception of Kings, 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.

Research in 2017 by the Institute for Fiscal Studies also indicates graduates from the LSE, Oxford and Imperial earn, on average, over £40,000 per year 5 years after graduation, making them the highest earners 5 years after graduation amongst British university graduates. Furthermore, the rest of the golden triangle member institutions, along with St Georges (University of London), make up the top 7 table of the highest earners.

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