The Complete University Guide, The Guardian, The Times and The Sunday Times – annually publish the national ranking of Universities in the UK
The Complete University Guide has 9 criteria:
- Academic services spend
- Completion (of degree)
- Entry standards
- Facilities spend
- Good honours (proportion of firsts and upper seconds)
- Graduate prospects
- Research assessment/quality
- Student satisfaction
- Student/staff ratio
The Guardian
• Has 8 criteria:
- Entry score
- Feedback
- Job prospects
- Overall quality
- Spending per student
- Staff/student ratio
- Teaching quality
The Sunday Times
• Uses 8 criteria
- Student satisfaction
- Teaching excellence
- Heads/peer assessment
- Research quality
- A-Level/higher points
- Unemployment post-graduation
- Firsts/2:1’s awarded
- Dropout rate
The Times
• Uses 8 criteria
- Completion
- Entry standards
- Facilities spending
- Good honours
- Graduate prospects
- Library and computing spending
- Research
- Student satisfaction
- Student-staff ratio
It is important to note that you should not base your Uni choices on the league tables alone; it is always a good idea to visit each institution in order to get a feel for the place. You could get an offer from a top 30, or even a top 10 UK University, but if you don’t like the location nor the campus, your unhappiness will outweigh the status of the Uni. Consider all the factors of each University, such as their ranking, their student satisfaction and the local area before you decide which one is right for you.
