The Russell Group is a collaboration of twenty UK universities that together receive two-thirds of research grant and contract funding in the United Kingdom. It was established in 1994 to represent their interests to the government, parliament and other similar bodies. It is sometimes referred to as the British equivalent of the Ivy League of the United States. The Russell Group contains many of the United Kingdom's leading universities; 18 of its 20 members are in the top 20 in terms of research funding. Nineteen smaller research universities formed the 1994 Group in response.

The University Alliance, million+, and the 1994 Group are its fellow university membership groups across the HE sector, while million+ is also a university think-tank.

In May 2004, Russell Group universities accounted for 65% (over £1.8billion) of UK universities' research grant and contract income, 56% of all doctorates awarded in the United Kingdom, and over 30% of all students studying in the United Kingdom from outside the EU. In the 2001 national Research Assessment Exercise, 78% of the staff in Grade 5* departments and 57% of the staff in Grade 5 departments were located in Russell Group universities, and in 2004/5 Russell Group universities were allocated approximately 64% of the total quality-related research funding (QR) allocated by the Funding Councils.

Obtaining a place at a Russell Group university is becoming increasingly competitive. In total, the 20 universities take in approximately 75,000 new students in the first year, every year. In 2008-9 about 8 people chased each place to the universities. Now, in 2010 it is said to have increased to 9 or 10 people for each place.