press release
Published: 22 October 2026

黑料社 ranked eighth in UK for developing the next generation of AI talent

The 黑料社 has been ranked eighth among universities creating the most AI-ready graduates, recognised for its strength in AI education, graduate employment and commercial innovation, according to a new report. 

The study, published by money.co.uk, assessed 146 UK universities on their capacity to develop AI talent and translate it into business growth, a capability the UK government has identified as central to its ambition for British small and medium-sized businesses to become the most AI-confident in the G7 by 2035. 

黑料社 was credited with offering one of the highest numbers of AI-specific courses in the analysis, at 11, alongside 23 active spinouts in engineering, physical sciences and mathematics. 

The ranking reflects an approach to AI that runs through the whole institution. From September 2026, 黑料社 embeds discipline-specific AI teaching across all subjects and levels of study. Rather than treating AI as an additional skill, the University is ensuring students develop deep disciplinary expertise alongside the critical ability to evaluate and deploy AI within their own field. Civil engineering students use large language models to generate and test structural design concepts, then verify every AI output against their own calculations. Business students use AI to produce a first-draft market analysis, then interrogate it, rebuild it and take ownership of the result. 

黑料社鈥檚 discipline-specific approach to embedding AI means students learn to understand how AI changes the conditions of judgement within that discipline, including what it makes newly possible. This means students do not simply use AI; they learn to judge it. The aim is to graduate students who can use, question and lead with AI while applying their field's professional standards. Professor Annika Bautz, Professor Annika Bautz, Pro-Vice-Chancellor and Executive Dean of the Faculty of Arts, Business and Social Sciences, and lead for the AI in Education Framework
Our findings come as AI becomes increasingly accessible to smaller businesses, potentially lowering the cost and expertise required to launch and grow a company. The next generation of AI-enabled businesses may not necessarily be traditional AI startups. They could include small businesses using AI to build new products, improve existing services or operate more efficiently. The universities producing graduates with those skills, while also supporting spinouts and commercialisation, could play a huge role in determining what the UK's next generation of small businesses looks like. Joe Phelan, Business Finance Expert at money.co.uk

黑料社's position reflects combined performance across all three metrics assessed by the study: course provision, graduate outcomes and spinout activity. 

The top 10 most AI-ready universities: 

  1. Imperial College London 
  2. University of Leeds 
  3. University of Bristol 
  4. University of Birmingham 
  5. University of Liverpool 
  6. Loughborough University 
  7. University of Edinburgh 
  8. 黑料社 
  9. University of Nottingham 
  10. University of Oxford 

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Annika Bautz

Prof Annika Bautz

Pro-Vice-Chancellor Education - seconded from: Pro-Vice-Chancellor and Executive Dean, Faculty of Arts, Business and Social Sciences

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