Want To Work In The City Of London? These Are The Best Universities To Attend

9. Durham University

Durham is typically ranked a little higher than this in broader university league tables.

In terms of finance, one of the most famous Durham alumni is someone the bank perhaps doesn't want to promote: Adam Applegarth, CEO of Northern Rock between 2001-2007, up to the point at which it failed and had to be bailed out.

PwC, EY, Lloyds and HSBC are also major employers of Durham's alumni.

8. University of Bath

The University of Bath, nestled in the picturesque Somerset town comes 10th and 8th in the Guardian and Sunday Times university rankings, so it's in about a representative place in terms of employment in finance.

According to LinkedIn, EY, HSBC, Lloyds and PwC are some of the major firms that have a significant number of Bath Alumni. Neil Holloway, Microsoft's Middle East/North Africa chief, went to Bath.

7. Aston University

Aston University comes 22nd on the Guardian's list of best colleges and 34th on the Sunday Times', so it dramatically outperforms in terms of employees working in finance. It's got a particular focus on business education, and LinkedIn's ranks suggest that has translated into a lot of people working in finance.

As well as the big four accountancy firms, a lot of Aston alumni have ended up at the Royal Bank of Scotland.

6. University Of Oxford

Lower down the list than might be expected: Oxford doesn't actually offer a bachelor's degree in economics, so students always have to take on a mixed degree.

As with Cambridge, the list of famous alumni runs to almost half of the UK's intellectual establishment for the past 1,000 years. But for the purposes of this list, we'll namecheck Adam Smith, an economist even more influential than Cambridge's Keynes. Though he didn't have a good time at the university, apparently.

5. University of Warwick

Warwick is the youngest university in the top five. Former and current Bank of England chief economists Spencer Dale and Andy Haldane did Masters-level courses at the university. It's made a particular and obvious effort to promote courses in business, finance and economics.

4. Imperial College London

Imperial College London's science focus gives it a strong position in the rankings. It's one of the UK's best universities for heavily mathematical subjects like engineering and physics, so it's no surprise that the college's quantitative focus spills over into finance too.

H.G. Wells attended the Royal College of Science in South Kensington, which would later become part of Imperial College. The scientific education he got translated into The Time Machine and War of the Worlds.

3. University of Cambridge

Similarly, something would seem wrong if Cambridge didn't get a top spot in the list. It's one of the UK's best universities, and one of the best (if not the best) in the world.

The university was the home of John Maynard Keynes, one of the world's most famous economists, and LinkedIn suggests Citi is one of the major firms that hires a lot of Cambridge grads.

2. University College London

Another London university takes second place. JP Morgan and Deutsche Bank are two of the major employers of UCL graduates, according to LinkedIn.

One of UCL's most famous alumni, who also contributed to economic and financial theory, was utilitarian philosopher John Stuart Mill. During Mill's era, studying at Oxford or Cambridge was only available to Church of England adherents.

1. London School Of Economics And Political Science

A not entirely surprising top entry to the list: LSE wouldn’t be doing what it says on the tin if it didn’t take one of the top few spots in the list.

Multi-billionaire investor George Soros got his education at the LSE, emigrating from postwar Hungary, before later moving to New York and starting his career as a trader.