Today the issue of competitiveness of higher education institutions is becoming more and more important. Given this paradigm, it is advisable to analyze the positioning strategies of leading UK universities on indicators of "prestige of higher education institutions among consumers of educational services or users of educational products" with indicators of the index of academic reputation; reputation index of institutions of higher education among employers; brand recognition and "economic and international activities" with indicators of economic impact, financial support for education, internationalization of the university. In the course of scientific research, the author analyzed in detail the special, scientific and pedagogical literature, information from the media, radio, television, data from Internet sites and social networks. To achieve these goals, general and special methods of scientific research were used: theoretical, monumental and problem-based analysis of special literature and Internet resources. The article provides a comparative analysis of the positioning strategies of the leading universities in the UK, namely: Oxford, Cambridge, Edinburgh, Bristol and Manchester universities on global indicators. After analyzing the five leading universities in the UK, we concluded that the main methods of positioning universities include stories, conversations, presentations and information and reference methods. It was determined that the main forms of positioning are based on consultations, seminars, conferences, research, creating courses and paying great attention to students with disabilities. Each university has created its own programs to improve the quality of education. All of them are aimed at helping talented students, but not financially secure; students who have outstanding academic results and international students. All leading universities have their own official pages and websites, which cover current information on the work of higher education institutions, their plans and prospects
