UK Universities and Higher Education Providers
Search every site in this cohortuk-universities
Every registered higher education provider in England, and the universities and colleges of higher education in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
Median score
59
across 368 sites
Middle half
53–65
spread around the median
Full range
29–76
lowest to highest
Gated
123 of 368
block AI crawlers outright
Middle of 31 cohorts. All cohorts 54 · best cohort 63.
Where this list came from
The source, and how we filtered it
| Source | UK higher education provider registers, Office for Students (England); Medr (Wales); Scottish Funding Council (Scotland); NI Direct, Northern Ireland Executive (Northern Ireland) (OfS Register as downloaded 2026-11-02; Medr Register 2026-07-31; SFC university indicative funding allocations 2026-27 (March 2026); nidirect 'Universities and colleges in Northern Ireland' read 2026-11-02) |
|---|---|
| License | Open Government Licence v3.0 (OfS, SFC, nidirect); Medr publishes under the Open Government Licence for Wales/OGL v3.0 |
| Cite as | Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. |
| How we filtered it | England: every provider on the 'Register' sheet of the OfS Register download, keyed on UKPRN. The name shown is the first trading name, else the legal name. The website is the register's own column. kind is 'university' when the register says the provider may use 'university' in its title; 'fe-college' when GIAS types its UKPRN as a further education college or a 16-19 academy named 'College'; 'college' otherwise. Wales: every provider on Medr's Register of Higher Education Providers, with the register's website column. Scotland: every institution in Table 2 (Main Teaching Grant) of the SFC 2026-27 indicative university allocations, except 'Open University in Scotland' (the Open University is already on the OfS register) and the Total line. The SFC gives no websites, so each name was matched exactly to a Wikidata English label or alias on a UK item; the website was taken only when exactly one item and one host answered. Northern Ireland: the four university and university-college headings on the nidirect page, with the first website link nidirect gives under each. Paths are cut to the site root except where several rows share a host. |
| Instead of | HESA's provider list sits behind a Cloudflare challenge, which was not bypassed. The UKRLP web service answered 502. Discover Uni's open dataset download could not be found at any current address. |
| Built | 2026-11-02 |
The filtering is ours and is disclosed as ours. The source published a list; the decision about which rows of it belong in a cohort was a judgment call, and it is written down so somebody can disagree with it.
Distribution
Where the 368 sites land
| Grade | Share of the cohort | Sites | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| Weak | 165 | 44.8% | |
| Not ready | 20 | 5.4% | |
| Adequate | 179 | 48.6% | |
| Strong | 4 | 1.1% |
By dimension
What the cohort earns, dimension by dimension
The mean share of each dimension’s available points that this cohort earned. Low here means the whole sector is weak on it, not that one site dragged an average down. The per-site spread is in the dataset.
| Dimension | Mean share earned | Mean |
|---|---|---|
| #1 · Reach
These parameters determine the fundamental ease of access that AI has to your site information. |
78% | |
| #2 · Read
AI generally turns off JavaScript. Does your site information survive without it? |
56% | |
| #3 · Understand
Does a machine know who and what you are? |
31% | |
| #4 · Act
Sitemaps, redirects, 404s, licensing terms, and not wasting the crawl budget. |
70% |
How much of each site we read
The cap is 32 URLs and it is a ceiling, not a promise. A portal whose every link points at a different host yields one page; a university yields the full sample. The median here is 32, the range 1–32, published so that "we sampled 32 URLs per site" cannot become a claim the data does not support.
8 sites in this cohort served a certificate we could not verify. They were read anyway and scored normally, because reporting no response for a site every browser loads would describe our TLS stack rather than the site, and each one carries the finding in its row.
Where this cohort fails
5 tests almost nobody in this cohort passes
Universal — nobody passes these
| Test | What it asks | Failing | Of | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| EXT-12 | Do you tell search engines the moment a page changes? | 368 | 0 | |
| EXT-16 | Do you publish a card or a skills list for the agents you run? | 368 | 0 | |
| EXT-17 | Do you list your agents in your domain's DNS records? | 359 | 0 | |
| EXT-18 | Do you tell AI shoppers how they can pay? | 16 | 0 | |
| EXT-2 | Do you list your APIs and agent tools where agents look for them? | 23 | 0 |
Near-universal — 95% and above
| Test | What it asks | Failing | Of | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| EXT-14 | Does your site offer its actions to AI browsers as tools? | 358 | 0 | |
| EXT-11 | Have you marked the part of a page that answers a spoken question? | 368 | 0 | |
| RED-10 | Do you offer a plain-text (Markdown) copy of your pages? | 325 | 2 | |
| RED-12 | If a machine asks for Markdown, does your site give it? | 367 | 2 | |
| PST-2 | Have you posted a Content Signals statement about what AI may do with your content? | 368 | 0 | |
| UND-2 | Does your site use the page labels that search engines still read for what you publish? | 368 | 3 | |
| UND-5 | Does the author label in your page code point to that person? | 324 | 1 |
Common — 90 to 95%
| Test | What it asks | Failing | Of | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| EXT-13 | Can an assistant ask your site a question directly? | 368 | 0 | |
| EXT-1 | Do you publish an llms.txt file for coding assistants? | 368 | 0 | |
| PST-4 | Have you reserved your text and data mining rights in a form machines can read? | 368 | 0 | |
| EXT-4 | Can an AI assistant connect to your site as a tool? | 368 | 0 | |
| EXT-7 | If you run real question-and-answer pages, are they marked as such? | 15 | 0 | |
| UND-1 | Does your site say clearly who you are? | 368 | 2 |
Coral bars mark tests worth 2 points or more, the failures that actually move a score.
Every site
Every 460, named, with a report for each
Whether or not it has been scanned. Rows with no website on record, sites that were unreachable and sites that turned us away stay in the table with the reason on them, and none of them enters an average: dropping them would shrink the population to the part that was easy to measure. A few points between two neighbors is noise. The box filters every row in the cohort, not only the page you are on; click a header to sort the rows on this page by name or by score.
Showing 401–460 of 460 · page 5 of 5
| Site | Score | Gated | Pages read | Report |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| University of Wolverhampton wlv.ac.ukregister id 10007166; address from OfS Register (high confidence), not checked by loading it | 48 | No | 1 | |
| University of Worcester worcester.ac.ukregister id 10007139; address from OfS Register (high confidence), not checked by loading it | 65 | No | 1 | |
| University of York york.ac.ukregister id 10007167; address from OfS Register (high confidence), not checked by loading it | 56 | No | 32 | |
| Université Paris-Dauphine London campus london.dauphine.frunreachableregister id 10066143; address from OfS Register (high confidence), not checked by loading it | — | No | — | |
| USP College uspcollege.ac.ukregister id 10005736; address from OfS Register (high confidence), not checked by loading it | 65 | No | 32 | |
| UWE uwe.ac.ukregister id 10007164; address from OfS Register (high confidence), not checked by loading it | 66 | No | 32 | |
| Wakefield College wakefield.ac.ukregister id 10007289; address from OfS Register (high confidence), not checked by loading it | 76 | No | 1 | |
| Walsall College walsallcollege.ac.ukregister id 10007315; address from OfS Register (high confidence), not checked by loading it | 61 | No | 32 | |
| Waltham Forest College waltham.ac.ukregister id 10007321; address from OfS Register (high confidence), not checked by loading it | 62 | No | 31 | |
| Waltham International College Limited wic.ac.ukregister id 10029843; address from OfS Register (high confidence), not checked by loading it | 61 | No | 10 | |
| Warrington & Vale Royal College wvr.ac.ukregister id 10007339; address from OfS Register (high confidence), not checked by loading it | 61 | No | 32 | |
| Warwickshire College Group wcg.ac.ukregister id 10007859; address from OfS Register (high confidence), not checked by loading it | 52 | No | 1 | |
| Waverley Abbey College waverleyabbeycollege.ac.ukregister id 10007361; address from OfS Register (high confidence), not checked by loading it | 59 | No | 32 | |
| West Dean College of Arts and Conservation westdean.org.ukblockedregister id 10032288; address from OfS Register (high confidence), not checked by loading it; not measured: HTTP 403 (Cloudflare) | — | No | — | |
| West Herts College westherts.ac.ukregister id 10007417; address from OfS Register (high confidence), not checked by loading it | 54 | Gated | 32 | |
| West Suffolk College wsc.ac.ukregister id 10007431; address from OfS Register (high confidence), not checked by loading it | 43 | Gated | 32 | |
| West Thames College west-thames.ac.ukregister id 10007434; address from OfS Register (high confidence), not checked by loading it | 49 | No | 30 | |
| Westminster Theological Centre wtctheology.org.ukregister id 10030973; address from OfS Register (high confidence), not checked by loading it | 51 | No | 32 | |
| Wigan and Leigh College wigan-leigh.ac.ukregister id 10007500; address from OfS Register (high confidence), not checked by loading it | 73 | No | 32 | |
| William Booth College salvationarmy.org.ukregister id 10021256; address from OfS Register (high confidence), not checked by loading it; the published address is https://www.salvationarmy.org.uk/william-booth-college; cut to the site root | 74 | No | 32 | |
| Wiltshire College and University Centre wiltshire.ac.ukregister id 10007527; address from OfS Register (high confidence), not checked by loading it | 44 | Gated | 32 | |
| Wirral Metropolitan College wmc.ac.ukregister id 10007553; address from OfS Register (high confidence), not checked by loading it | 53 | Gated | 32 | |
| Yeovil College ycuc.ac.ukblockedregister id 10007696; address from OfS Register (high confidence), not checked by loading it; not measured: HTTP 403 | — | No | — | |
| York College & University Centre yorkcollege.ac.ukregister id 10007709; address from OfS Register (high confidence), not checked by loading it | 62 | No | 32 | |
| York St John University yorksj.ac.ukregister id 10007713; address from OfS Register (high confidence), not checked by loading it | 48 | Gated | 32 | |
| Abertay University abertay.ac.ukregister id UKPRN 10007849; address from Wikidata P856 (low confidence), not checked by loading it | 49 | No | 2 | |
| Edinburgh Napier University napier.ac.ukregister id UKPRN 10007772; address from Wikidata P856 (low confidence), not checked by loading it | 62 | No | 32 | |
| Glasgow Caledonian University gcu.ac.ukblockedregister id UKPRN 10007762; address from Wikidata P856 (low confidence), not checked by loading it; not measured: HTTP 403 (Cloudflare) | — | No | — | |
| Glasgow School of Art gsa.ac.ukregister id UKPRN 10002681; address from Wikidata P856 (low confidence), not checked by loading it | 62 | No | 32 | |
| Heriot-Watt University hw.ac.ukregister id UKPRN 10007764; address from Wikidata P856 (low confidence), not checked by loading it | 56 | No | 32 | |
| Queen Margaret University, Edinburgh qmu.ac.ukregister id UKPRN 10005337; address from Wikidata P856 (low confidence), not checked by loading it | 60 | Gated | 32 | |
| Robert Gordon University rgu.ac.ukregister id UKPRN 10005500; address from Wikidata P856 (low confidence), not checked by loading it | 61 | No | 32 | |
| Royal Conservatoire of Scotland rcs.ac.ukregister id UKPRN 10005561; address from Wikidata P856 (low confidence), not checked by loading it | 65 | No | 32 | |
| SRUC sruc.ac.ukblockedregister id UKPRN 10005700; address from Wikidata P856 (low confidence), not checked by loading it; not measured: HTTP 403 (Cloudflare) | — | No | — | |
| University of Aberdeen abdn.ac.ukregister id UKPRN 10007783; address from Wikidata P856 (low confidence), not checked by loading it | 60 | No | 32 | |
| University of Dundee dundee.ac.ukblockedregister id UKPRN 10007852; address from Wikidata P856 (low confidence), not checked by loading it; not measured: HTTP 403 (Cloudflare) | — | No | — | |
| University of Edinburgh ed.ac.ukregister id UKPRN 10007790; address from Wikidata P856 (low confidence), not checked by loading it | 55 | Gated | 32 | |
| University of Glasgow gla.ac.ukregister id UKPRN 10007794; address from Wikidata P856 (low confidence), not checked by loading it | 53 | Gated | 5 | |
| University of St Andrews st-andrews.ac.ukregister id UKPRN 10007803; address from Wikidata P856 (low confidence), not checked by loading it | 69 | No | 32 | |
| University of Stirling stir.ac.ukregister id UKPRN 10007804; address from Wikidata P856 (low confidence), not checked by loading it | 52 | No | 32 | |
| University of Strathclyde strath.ac.ukregister id UKPRN 10007805; address from Wikidata P856 (low confidence), not checked by loading it | 47 | No | 32 | |
| University of the Highlands & Islands uhi.ac.ukregister id UKPRN 10007114; address from Wikidata P856 (low confidence), not checked by loading it | 68 | No | 16 | |
| University of the West of Scotland uws.ac.ukregister id UKPRN 10007800; address from Wikidata P856 (low confidence), not checked by loading it | 69 | No | 32 | |
| Aberystwyth University aber.ac.ukregister id Companies House RC000641; address from Medr Register (high confidence), not checked by loading it | 39 | No | 32 | |
| Bangor University bangor.ac.ukregister id Companies House RC000036; address from Medr Register (high confidence), not checked by loading it | 59 | No | 32 | |
| Cardiff and the Vale College cavc.ac.ukregister id Medr register: Cardiff and the Vale College; address from Medr Register (high confidence), not checked by loading it | 60 | No | 32 | |
| Cardiff Metropolitan University cardiffmet.ac.ukregister id charity 1140762; address from Medr Register (high confidence), not checked by loading it | 62 | No | 32 | |
| Cardiff University cardiff.ac.ukblockedregister id Companies House RC000089; address from Medr Register (high confidence), not checked by loading it; not measured: HTTP 403 (Cloudflare) | — | No | — | |
| Coleg Cambria cambria.ac.ukregister id Medr register: Coleg Cambria; address from Medr Register (high confidence), not checked by loading it | 63 | Gated | 32 | |
| Gower College Swansea gcs.ac.ukregister id Medr register: Gower College Swansea; address from Medr Register (high confidence), not checked by loading it | 72 | No | 32 | |
| Grŵp Llandrillo Menai gllm.ac.ukregister id Medr register: Grŵp Llandrillo Menai; address from Medr Register (high confidence), not checked by loading it | 73 | Gated | 32 | |
| NPTC Group of Colleges nptcgroup.ac.ukregister id Medr register: NPTC Group of Colleges; address from Medr Register (high confidence), not checked by loading it | 49 | Gated | 32 | |
| Swansea University swansea.ac.ukregister id Companies House RC000639; address from Medr Register (high confidence), not checked by loading it | 42 | Gated | 32 | |
| University of South Wales southwales.ac.ukblockedregister id charity 1140312; address from Medr Register (high confidence), not checked by loading it; not measured: HTTP 403 (Cloudflare) | — | No | — | |
| University of Wales Trinity Saint David uwtsd.ac.ukregister id Companies House RC000537; address from Medr Register (high confidence), not checked by loading it | 54 | No | 32 | |
| Wrexham University wrexham.ac.ukregister id charity 1142048; address from Medr Register (high confidence), not checked by loading it | 52 | No | 32 | |
| Queen's University Belfast qub.ac.ukblockedregister id nidirect: Queen's University Belfast; address from nidirect (high confidence), not checked by loading it; not measured: HTTP 403 (CloudFront) | — | No | — | |
| St Mary's University College smucb.ac.ukblockedregister id nidirect: St Mary's University College; address from nidirect (high confidence), not checked by loading it; not measured: HTTP 403 (Cloudflare) | — | No | — | |
| Stranmillis University College stran.ac.ukunreachableregister id nidirect: Stranmillis University College; address from nidirect (high confidence), not checked by loading it | — | No | — | |
| Ulster University ulster.ac.ukblockedregister id nidirect: Ulster University; address from nidirect (high confidence), not checked by loading it; not measured: HTTP 403 (Cloudflare) | — | No | — |
Scores are for the population, not for ranking two named sites against each other. A few points between neighbors is noise. See what these numbers can and cannot support. Headline figures: summary.json (CC BY 4.0). The site-by-site data on this page is licensed; a bulk copy is from TEN7 for a fee.