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.

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.

Objectives

The Russell Group states that its objectives are to:

• lead the UK's research effort;
• maximise income for its member institutions;
• attract the best staff and students to those institutions;
• create the regulatory environment in which it can achieve these objectives by reducing government interference; and
• identify ways to co-operate in order to exploit the universities' collaborative advantage.

It works towards these objectives by lobbying the UK government and parliament by commissioning reports and research, creating a forum in which the universities can discuss issues of common concern and identify ways to work together.